People's Artist Tra Giang - The woman with "talking" eyes

(Baonghean) -With the Best Actress Award at the Moscow International Film Festival (1973) and many other noble awards, People's Artist Tra Giang was honored by the Vietnam Cinema Association with the "Lifetime Achievement" award in 2007. That affirmed the dedicated role of this talented artist over the past 4 decades.

Artist Tra Giang in her youth

Tra Giang was born in 1942 in Quang Ngai, a student of a school in the South. Since childhood, she was taken by her father, Meritorious Artist Nguyen Van Khanh - Head of the Art Troupe of Zone 5 - to see plays, dances, and reformed opera... Her father used to work in cinema during the resistance war in the swamps, so he was very interested in this subject, and advised his daughter to take the entrance exam for the film actor class and Tra Giang was admitted to the first course of the Vietnam Film School (1959-1962), along with actors Kim Chi, Thuy Vinh, Lam Toi...

After graduating, she was assigned to the Vietnam Film Studio (now the Feature Film Studio). Tra Giang participated in 17 feature films, such as: "A Day in Early Autumn" (1961); "Chi Tu Hau" (1962); "17th Parallel Days and Nights" (1972); "Song of the Battle" (1973); "Hanoi Baby" (1974); "Saint's Day" (1976); "First Love" (1977); "Legend of Mother" (1987); "Brown Shirt Leader" (1987); "White Flower River" (1989)... and won the "Best Actress" Award three times at the Moscow International Film Festival (1973), the 4th Vietnam Film Festival (1977), and the 8th Film Festival (1988). She was awarded the title of People's Artist in the first term (1984), and was a National Assembly delegate for the 5th, 6th, and 7th terms. On the occasion of Uncle Ho's visit and speech at the National Cultural Conference (1962), Tra Giang was honored to be sent to present flowers and was hugged by Uncle Ho when he learned that she was the child of a cadre from the South.

Tra Giang is a famous film actress with beautiful, "spiritual" eyes, a delicate, emotional acting style, depicting the inner depth of a character with the noble and virtuous appearance of a Vietnamese woman. She is lucky and has a destiny with roles such as Chi Tu Hau in the film of the same name; Diu "17th Parallel Day and Night"; Huong "Mother's Legend"; The Third Wife of De Tham in "The Brown Shirt Leader"... these character images have all left deep impressions that always haunt the audience. A Chi Tu Hau with a miserable life: "Dark night, the sea is black as ink, the young woman angrily rushes into the waves, suddenly the cry of a newborn baby sounds like tearing the night. She stops, her little child pulls her back to reality, she rushes to the shore, holding the baby in her arms and sobbing!". A touching scene of maternal love, a wonderful performance of talent that completely conquers the audience.

10 years later, the role of Diu - a loyal and indomitable female cadre of the South who bravely faced the enemy day and night to keep her integrity with the revolution, and her loyalty to her husband in "17th Parallel Day and Night" continued to receive enthusiastic reception from the audience. With expressive eyes of cinematic language, it can be said that the role of Diu is the pinnacle of acting, the accumulation of rich life experience and innate talent, the harmonious combination of the harsh challenges of war, creativity with a delicate artistic sense that sublimates in front of her lens.

She recounted the sacred memories: “Once during the break of the National Assembly meeting, a delegate came to shake my hand and thank me because he was so moved by the character of Ms. Tu Hau. He claimed to be Tu Hau's real husband in real life and said that Tu Hau's children really wanted to meet their mother "Tra Giang", which surprised me. Recently, when I returned to Nam Dinh, visited Phu Giay Festival where the movie "Saint's Day" was filmed, many Catholic women brought their children to interact with the film artists very warmly and expressed that from childhood until now, they had only wanted to meet Ms. Tra Giang once, and now their wish has come true. When I heard some young soldiers express that after watching the movie "17th Parallel, Days and Nights", they volunteered to go to B. Or like at the 13th Vietnam Film Festival, in Vinh City, Nghe An in 2001, we were always "surrounded" enthusiastically by the audience. When we went to eat eel porridge with Dang Nhat Minh, The Anh, Bui Bai Binh..., when paying, the owner The restaurant refused because it was the only time in their life they had the chance to “entertain” a famous film artist. It was extremely happy, I never thought that something in art could bring such beautiful and great feelings towards life!”

Many deep memories about the "career and life" of the talented artist named after his hometown Tra River. When the film "Chi Tu Hau" was invited to participate in the Moscow International Film Festival, People's Artist Bich Ngoc (a fellow countryman from Zone 5) was studying at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory at that time. The violinist was fascinated by the film, and when he returned home, he decided to look for actress Tra Giang... The artistic sympathy between music and cinema led the two to get married in 1966. The result of that love was the birth of Bich Tra, the daughter influenced by her father's "genes", when she grew up she chose the path of contemporary music, playing the piano.

People's Artist Tra Giang at the easel

Answering the question of why Tra Giang turned from cinema to painting? She confided: “After the movie “White Flower River” (1990), I moved to work at the Vietnam Film Institute - branch 2 in Ho Chi Minh City - but I still had a passion for acting, always waiting for satisfactory roles. In the market mechanism with commercial film scripts like “instant noodles” it was not very suitable for my “nature”! There was also a part from my own sadness, the sudden departure of my husband due to a terrible illness and the emptiness when Bich Tra was studying and working in London. I came to the painting class of the city's women's group by chance... For me, the path of painting always has the shadow of cinema art. The emotions, impressions, memories experienced in movies and in everyday life all become experiences, life capital for painting. Every art has hidden beauty, everyone wants to find and explore”.

For nearly 10 years holding a brush, Tra Giang has painted hundreds of paintings of various themes and genres, many of which were inspired by memories of movies and Vietnamese women that always haunted her when she held a brush. It was also a way for her to "show off" to her friends that although she lives a peaceful life, she still keeps the flame of passion for art burning forever. She has participated in exhibitions with the "Huong Co" group of artists 5 times. After the exhibition, the proceeds from the sale of paintings are used for charity.

Le Lan(47, Dang Thuc Hua, Vinh City)