Movie "Hanoi 12 Days and Nights" - A mark of Vietnamese cinema

(Baonghean) “Hanoi 12 Days and Nights” (Vietnam Feature Film Studio - 2002), is a key film of the Cinema industry directed by People's Artist Bui Dinh Hac.

The assistant directors are prestigious people: Khac Loi, Le Thi, Bui Trung Hai. Five famous screenwriters were mobilized to participate in writing the script: Thien Phuc, Ho Phuong, Huu Mai, Chu Lai, Nguyen Thi Hong Ngat. After the film "Hanoi Baby", this is a big topic, recreating one of the legends of the resistance war against the US: The anti-aircraft missiles of the army and people of Hanoi defeated the modern B52 bomber of the US. The film was produced from 1997, completed in 2002, with an investment budget of over 7 billion VND and was also the first work to use computer-generated scenes and stereoscopic surround sound abroad.

A scene from the movie "Hanoi 12 Days and Nights"

The important goal that the filmmakers want to aim for is to create a monumental work about the bloody war of our nation, recreated directly, with high generalization, commensurate with the scale of the topic. For the first time in Vietnamese feature films, the public can see with their own eyes the scenes of modern war in the air, reflected and described from many unique, novel and especially effective special effects angles, creating an attractive appeal to viewers.

The content of the film focuses on carving the collective image, community strength, heroic spirit of sacrifice, indomitable will of each individual contributing to the face of the Vietnamese people and nation in a giant war. The cast of characters is built with quite profound artistic intentions. They are three successive generations: Mr. Lan Tam represents the generation of people with traditional ethics and Confucian ideology. When the enemy dropped B52 bombs on Hanoi, he went to Ngoc Son Temple to pray for Saint Tran and national heroes to bless and protect the country. Dang Nhan, Tran Dai, Nguyen Thang, Ngan Ha, Thuy Tien are symbols of the new generation, who have absorbed the knowledge of the times and they themselves have bravely and intelligently created victory. Teacher Hien, Dang Nhan's wife is pregnant. The monologue at the end of the film: "Anh Nhan! In me, our child is growing up every day" is an image evoking the third generation who will be born in peace, will build the future...

The technique of progressive contrast, pushing dramatic elements through the description in chronological order from the time the American enemy bombed Hanoi more and more fiercely at the end of December 1972: the scene of running out of missiles while enemy planes rumbled in; the scene of our brave and intelligent soldiers, in dire circumstances, having to find the optimal way to defeat the enemy; the scene of the more bombs and bullets falling, the more our hatred for the enemy and the fighting spirit of our soldiers and people increased... created an artistic effect in the work.

Some carefully selected details such as: the soldier had to ask permission from his mother and relatives to leave his father's coffin to go on a mission; Battalion Commander Dang Nhan had to say goodbye to his wife on the first day after the wedding to directly command the unit; The couple had to stop kissing on a stone bench by Hoan Kiem Lake when a B52 plane entered Hanoi; Ngan Ha was trapped in the basement of the collapsed building on Kham Thien Street... left strong impressions. The filmmakers wanted to create a modern, multi-layered structure and architecture. The multi-plot, non-plot elements and the power of randomness were emphasized. The film has an interweaving of epic and everyday elements, interwoven with heroic, tragic and love songs between the fierceness of war and peace... Time and space are disturbed, parallel to reality and symbolism, evoking many meanings, creating aesthetics in the film.

However, because the content of the work is large, with many characters, the film's author uses a sketching method, so it is difficult to thoroughly resolve relationships and highlight typical personalities. Viewers feel that some details related to the characters' fates have not been fully exploited, and have not created a strong impression...

Although there are still things that need to be discussed through the test of time, the film "Hanoi 12 Days and Nights" has left many remarkable marks, and is a typical work of Vietnamese cinema in the first decade of the 21st century!

Le Lan - 47, Dang Thuc Hua, Vinh City