The most popular Vietnamese films during the subsidy period

"The Wild Field", "Saigon Commandos" or "When Will October Come" are works that left their mark in the 10 years before Doi Moi.

According to the book History of Vietnamese Cinema (2003) by screenwriter Nguyen Thi Hong Ngát, Vietnamese cinema produced 149 feature films released to the public.from April 1975 to 1985. Every year there are an average of 12 animated films and many documentaries.

The 10 most prominent works of the period 1975 - 1986 show the gradual transformation of propaganda films into critical films and films capable of attracting the public.

First Love (1977)

First Love was one of the first films to create a fever in the state cinema system in the second half of the 1970s. The film, directed bydirected by Hai Ninh and written by Hoang Tich Chi, is one of the first works to dare to mention the topic of love, which was quite sensitive when the country had just emerged from the war. The plot is about a Saigon student before 1975 who was in pain because of a broken heart and so he became addicted to drugs to forget love and life.He was then helped back onto the right path by his sister.

This is the film that made the name of People's Artist The Anh. Playing the role of a twenty-year-old student in Saigon, the artist was nearly 40 years old at the time but still acted naturally and won the sympathy of the audience. In addition, the image of the older sister character in the film (played by People's Artist Tra Giang) was built on the prototype of female intelligence officer Hoang Thuy Lan.

The Last Sin (1979)

Director Tran Phuong's debut work became a blockbuster phenomenon right after its release in mid-1979. The film tells the story of Hien "Crocodile"'s journey from a prostitute to an honest woman.

Meritorious Artist Phuong Thanh plays the role of Hien "Crocodile". The beauty of Hanoi in the past convinced viewers when portraying two stages of a person, from a rebellious woman, frustrated with life to a lover and full of faith in life. Director Tran Phuong once said the reason he chose Phuong Thanh was because her appearance looked gentle but she had strange turmoils in her heart, which matched the character's personality.

At the same time, the song in the movie "How Many Times Does Life Call You" (composed by musician Trinh Cong Son) has become a classic song for over 30 years.

The Wasteland (1979)

This is one of the first films to somewhat escape the over-exaggeration of revolutionary propaganda films.The work was directed by Nguyen Hong Sen from a script by writer Nguyen Quang Sang. Nguyen Quang Sang said in his memoir that he had been nurturing the script since 1966, when he went to the field to do fieldwork in Dong Thap Muoi.The film follows the daily life of a couple who work as couriers in a flooded field in Dong Thap Muoi during the war.

* Scene of mother putting her child in a plastic bag and drowning him in water to avoid bombs

Thanks to the unique setting of a deserted field, the film fully exploits three levels of space - above water, below water and in the air (where enemy planes hover).The work is also successful thanks to the realistic acting of the artist couple Lam Toi and Thuy An.

Town Within Reach (1982)

The Town Within Reach is a work that helped discover the cinematic talent of director Dang Nhat Minh - a filmmaker with a unique cinematic sense compared to his predecessors. The film is set right after the 1979 Vietnam - China Border War, telling the story of a journalist named Vu who goes to Lang Son to report on the situation in the town after the Chinese army destroyed it and withdrew to the other side of the border. At the same time, the man questions his own shameful past. In the past, he abandoned his college girlfriend because of political sensitivity.

The film is a rich narrative, shot in poetic black and white frames, set against the ruins and desolation of a city that had just been devastated by the enemy. Director Dang Nhat Minh recounted in his Cinema Memoirs that when he filmed, Lang Son town was still in ruins, like a giant studio that did not need to be set up. "People were not allowed to return yet, so we had complete control of the scene." In addition, he also admitted that this was his most cinematic film to date.

Vu Dai Village in those days (1983)

Among the first generation of Vietnamese filmmakers, People's Artist Pham Van Khoa is associated with works adapted from pre-1945 critical realist novels. Vu Dai Village of the Past is a sequel to his own film Chi Dau (1980).The film is an adaptation of three classic short stories by Nam Cao - including Song Mon, Chi Pheo and Lao Hac - which is a broad picture of the Vietnamese countryside before 1945 and realistically depicts the miserable fate of Vietnamese people under the feudal and colonial regimes in the early 20th century.

Thanks to this work, two veteran artists, Duc Luu and Bui Cuong, became famous with their unique roles on the silver screen, Thi No and Chi Pheo. After painstakingly transforming into characters with ironic and cruel fates, Duc Luu continued to act in a few films, then stopped his career and lived a happy life, while artist Bui Cuong stuck with the directing profession.

When Will October Come (1984)

When is October the movie of the year?The Doi Moi era of Vietnamese cinema is characterized by the high social criticism in the content of the work.Director Dang Nhat Minh said: "The film went through censorship 13 times after it was completed.I felt like a criminal being dragged out to trial continuously. I thought I had escaped in one trial but was dragged out to be tried again in another." Finally, the work was seen by General Secretary Truong Chinh before he allowed it to be shown widely.

The original story is about a young woman who must hide from her elderly father-in-law the death of her son and husband in battle. While suffering her own pain, the young woman becomes involved in a scandal with the village teacher after asking him to write fake letters to her father on her husband's behalf.

* Excerpt from the movie where the wife looks for her husband at the Yin Yang Market

Beyond a contemporary story, the film exposes the country's legacy of nearly half a century of war - the pain and torment that generations of Vietnamese women have endured like the main female character.The film creates an atmosphere rich in Asian culture and beliefs thanks to the Cheo singing scenes or the scene where the living meet the dead in the Yin Yang Market. In 2008, CNN magazine voted the film into the list of 18 best Asian works.

Kindness (1985)

Kindness is a documentary phenomenon in Vietnamese cinema. Instead of having propaganda content like all documentary works produced during the subsidy period, the film by People's Artist Tran Van Thuy tells the story of the filmmakers themselves questioning their documentary making process. The work demonstrates the independent will of the filmmakers as artists, citizens and human beings.

Initially, tThe film once caused a stir in the Vietnamese film industry when it was banned from showing because of its thorny content criticizing social reality during the subsidy period. After that,General Secretary Nguyen Van Linh intervened to help the film be widely released and received by audiences everywhere.The film won many national and international awards including the Silver Dove Award at the Dok Leipzig Film Festival (Germany) in 1992.

Girl on the River (1986)

The work tells the story of a prostitute who once sheltered a Saigon commando officer before 1975 and suffered a cruel fate after the country ended the war. The soldier she sheltered in the past betrayed her and now became a high-ranking officer, forgetting the past favor.

Girl on the rivercontinues to be a thorny work about the country's subsidy period.The film was easily censored as the country was entering the Renovation period. The stories that criticized society and sensitive details such as the revealing body of artist Minh Chau impressed viewers.

Saigon Commando (1982 - 1986)

Along with Van bai lat ngua, Biet dong Sai Gon is a series of record-breaking box office hits in Vietnamese cinema at the end of the subsidy period, signaling stories that have the potential to attract audiences to the theater. Launched in 1981, the work was initially ordered by Major General Hai Phung (former Commander of the Saigon Biet Dong, then Commander of the Ho Chi Minh City Military Command). The film was shot over four years and divided into four episodes.

Director Vu Van Nha of the film recounted that after its release, the work attracted more than 10 million viewers to the theater. The plot tells the story of the exploits of special forces in Saigon in the past. The filmis the launching pad for many actors from main to supporting roles such as Thuong Tin, Quang Thai, Thuy An, Thanh Loan, Ha Xuyen.

The Upside Down (1982-1987)

The Flip Cards is a classic series of Vietnamese cinema before the Doi Moi period. The film simulates the life of real-life spies of the Vietnam Workers' Party operating behind enemy lines during the resistance war against the US, especially intelligence officer Pham Ngoc Thao.

The long-form work has a strong Hollywood filmmaking style by the filmmakerLe Hoang Hoa - personwas formally trained in cinema in the US. The film is adapted from the spy novel of the same name by writer Nguyen Truong Thien Ly. The role of spy Nguyen Thanh Luan is played by Nguyen Chanh Tin and the role of Thuy Dung is played by Thuy An and Thanh Lan. Nguyen Thanh Luan is also the role of a lifetime for the veteran actor.

In 1986, the country ended the subsidy period and entered the Renovation period. However, sau The Girl on the River, Saigon Special Forces andThe cards are up, Vietnamese cinema entered a period of crisis before the video film genre and "instant noodle" films flourished in the early 1990s.

According to VNE