House Wren

by | Feb 22, 2018 | Wrens

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The Abandoned Field: Free Fire Zone (Vietnamese: Cánh đồng hoang) is a 1979 Vietnamese drama film directed by Nguyễn Hồng Sến [vi]. It won the Golden Prize and the Prix FIPRESCI at the 12th Moscow International Film Festival.[1]

The film gives an "unnerving and compelling .. subjective-camera-eye-view" of life under helicopter fire in a free-fire zone in the Mekong Delta during the Vietnam War. The film cuts to an (American) "helicopter-eye view", contrasting painfully with the human tenderness seen earlier.[2][3]

Plot

The film completely takes place within the perimeter of an empty field, but it exploits both the space under the water (from under the water surface of the field) and the edges of the sky (where there are American warplanes conducting raids).

The setting is Dong Thap Muoi during the Vietnam War. Ba Do, his wife, and their young child live in a small shack amidst the water. They are tasked by the revolution with maintaining communication lines for the armed forces. The author emphasizes the daily life of the couple, such as planting rice, caring for their child, catching snakes, and fishing. Interspersed with these activities are raids by American military helicopters searching for guerrilla soldiers in the watery fields. When Ba Do is shot by an American helicopter, his wife shoots it down to avenge him.

At the end of the film there is a scene where a photograph of the shot pilot's wife and child falls from his chest. There were many suggestions to edit this scene from the film, however, it was still kept in order for people to see and understand American soldiers more clearly, they also are normal people, with a wife and child like Ba Do, but because of the war they had to be pulled from their families and put into Vietnam to fight.

Cast

  • Lâm Tới as Ba Do
  • Nguyễn Thúy An as Sau Xoa
  • De Xuan
  • Chi Hong

References

  1. ^ "12th Moscow International Film Festival (1981)". MIFF. Archived from the original on 21 April 2013. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
  2. ^ "The Abandoned Field-Free Fire Zone (Canh dong hoang)". University of California, Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
  3. ^ Dissanayake, Wimal (1 January 1994). Colonialism and Nationalism in Asian Cinema. Indiana University Press. p. 132. ISBN 0-253-20895-5.
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