The film Southern Forest Land by director Nguyen Quang Dung is one of the most anticipated Vietnamese films of 2023. The film revolves around the character An, who searches for his father in the context of the anti-French uprising of the Southern people in the early 20th century.
However, right from the early screenings, the film received mixed opinions about its content, in which the story about gangs like Thien Dia Hoi was given quite a lot of "space".
The film "Southern Forest Land" by director Nguyen Quang Dung received mixed opinions about its content.
Doctor of Literature Ha Thanh Van had an exchange with VTC News about this film that is attracting a large audience.
- How do you rate the artistic quality of the film "Southern Forest Land" by director Nguyen Quang Dung that has just been released to the audience?
I always believe that movies are a holistic work of art, which means that every element in it must be extremely tight and logical, while creating a sense of satisfaction for the viewer.
Southern Forest Land is a film with artistic success. The film has large scenes, mobilizing a large number of extras, showing the director's meticulousness. The beautiful frames also help introduce a part of the Southern land, including Tra Su cajuput forest in An Giang.
The acting of the actors, some of whom are very new, acting for the first time, is quite good. The music, although still using old songs, which are already famous in TV series, is very interesting through the mixing and arrangement of musician Duc Tri.
Through the film, I see the desire and effort of the filmmakers to make a beautiful work about the Southern land, with the hope that after the scenes in the West, specifically in Tra Su cajuput forest, it can create a wave of tourism like after the film I see yellow flowers on the green grass in Phu Yen. Besides, this is also a film that promotes patriotism against the French.
However, from the perspective of a researcher interested in Southern culture and history, I consider the film as a prequel to Southern Forest Land , so it would be better to have another name.
- What in the movie made you make this comment?
Because the film mainly talks about the activities of Chinese people in secret societies such as the Heaven and Earth Society and the Boxer Rebellion.
Historical documents such as the latest “History of Vietnam”, published in 2017 by the Institute of History, together with famous names such as Professor Tran Van Giau, scholar Nguyen Hien Le, writer Son Nam… all state that at that time there were two secret societies of the Heaven and Earth Society, one was a patriotic anti-French secret society with both Chinese and Vietnamese participants, which ceased its activities since 1916.
The Chinese secret society, which resembled a gang, also called the Heaven and Earth Society, continued to operate strongly from the late 19th century until 1975.
For those who have read the original book "Dat rung phuong nam" by writer Doan Gioi, they will feel disappointed because they expect a familiar plot. However, the film focuses on the Chinese people fighting against the French in a secret society. In addition, some details about costumes or some details that I think are crude in terms of language, plot or character movements are flaws that reduce the quality of the film.
- In your opinion, the film is quite different from the original "Southern Forest Land", in which the story about gangs like Thien Dia Hoi is given quite a lot of "space"?
At the end of the film directed by Nguyen Quang Dung, there is a line of text that reads "inspired by the work "Dat rung phuong Nam" by writer Doan Gioi" . I think that filmmakers have every right to fictionalize a new film inspired by the original literary work, but must still respect historical facts and cannot distort history.
The original work by writer Doan Gioi describes the resistance war against the French of the Southern people after 1945, exactly from September 23, 1945, but this film is set in an unknown time. Based on the characters in the film such as Black Prince and White Prince - two characters who grew up and worked in the 20s - 40s of the 20th century and through costumes, the film has a time frame before 1945, estimated to be around the 20s - 40s.
If so, then at that time, the secret anti-French organizations of the Chinese such as the Heaven and Earth Association and the Righteous Boxers were no longer active against the French but were only the activities of gangster gangs with the nature of gangsterism, robbery, protection, etc.
On the other hand, the original work of Southern Forest Land does not have any words mentioning the two organizations Thien Dia Hoi and Nghia Hoa Doan, nor does it mention the Chinese. Only at the beginning of the work does it mention the story of the boy An getting lost while watching the Son Dong martial arts competition. This is completely historically incorrect.
As mentioned above, I think the film can also be fictionalized to be more attractive compared to the original, making the film script more dramatic and attractive. But the problem lies in how to fictionalize it reasonably, without distorting history. Moreover, Dat rung phuong nam is a very famous work of Doan Gioi, has left an impression on the hearts of many generations of readers and any fictionalization needs to be extremely careful.
It is not necessary to borrow the name of the work "Southern Forest Land" by writer Doan Gioi to make the public misunderstand the content of the film.
- How dangerous are these errors, ma'am?
The film is called Southern Forest Land but focuses on the secret anti-French group of Chinese people. This will cause misunderstanding that only the Chinese people were the key force to resist the French, and not see the role of other elements, especially the main, key leader, the Viet Minh.
Even in the film, there are details that can easily cause association and misunderstanding. Watching this film, we can see two lines of characters, two organizations, Thien Dia Hoi and the Revolution, and An is the link between the two sides. The characters of Thien Dia Hoi appear as heroes, with chivalry, personality, and integrity. Meanwhile, the characters in the Revolution are quite vague, there are even characters wearing Chinese costumes even though they are Vietnamese...
Set in a common film context, the familiar characters in the hearts of the Southern people now suddenly wear Chinese-style clothes, different from the other characters, and they are all positive characters, so the audience can easily recognize the difference, which leads to reactions.
The film also has a detail of the character Hai Thanh pretending to be a chair on stage, for little An, who plays the emperor, to sit on. The patriotic revolutionary character Hai Thanh hides under a blanket, prompting little An to read the lines on stage. The story of people pretending to be chairs is often seen in old plays performed in the South. But watching this scene, it is unclear what the filmmakers' intentions were and it is easy to cause bad associations. If the scene of the father and son having to do this to meet each other was performed, it would be very obvious and forced.
It cannot be denied that the Chinese have a connection with the Southern land, have contributed to the resistance war against the French as well as activities in life in all aspects. However, a film that spends 80% of its time talking about the activities of the Heaven and Earth Association with dialogues, even small, meticulous details such as cutting blood to swear an oath, burning incense, etc. will easily make the audience think of a secret society in the form of a gang.
I think that the film with the secret society as the main theme has strayed far from the original. The producer can change the name of the film, and has every right to make a film about the Chinese people's struggle against the French in the Southern land. It is not necessary to borrow the name of the work "Dat rung phuong nam" by writer Doan Gioi to make the public misunderstand the content of the film. Because currently, the name of the film "Dat rung phuong nam" is too different from the content of the film, creating a feeling of confusion and historical obscurity.
- What causes these deviations?
I think this may come from the crew not caring about the need for historical and cultural advisors in the South, and the scriptwriter himself not being knowledgeable about history.
Historically, the Heaven and Earth Society and the Righteous Boxers were two different organizations, but the characters' lines in the film all merged these two organizations into one. For example , "An voluntarily cut his blood and swore an oath, living as a member of the Righteous Boxers, dying as a ghost of the Heaven and Earth Society. Do you want him to betray his oath and live a cowardly life?" or "From now on, I am a member of the Righteous Boxers of the Heaven and Earth Society, worshiping heaven as my father, worshiping earth as my mother, taking "resisting the French" as my motto, taking the spirit of "Peach Garden Oath" as my foundation...." .... This shows immaturity and lack of historical understanding.
It is a mistake, but if these details appear in the film because the producer intentionally put them in to shock, cause controversy, attract public opinion and media, then this is a double-edged sword. Audiences go to the cinema because of curiosity and controversy, which can bring good revenue and profit to the filmmaker, but it will be very harmful to the younger generation, especially those who are not knowledgeable about history.
In addition, if the plot of the Heaven and Earth Society and the Boxer Rebellion is intentionally inserted into the film to rewrite the ambiguous history based on the original work of writer Doan Gioi, it is easy to misunderstand that at that time, the role of these two organizations was not that of Chinese mafia gangs, but only that of patriotic organizations against the French.
This needs to be made clear. History needs to be respected and not propagated through the clever form of a film.
The Cinema Department has re-evaluated the film after many mixed opinions from the public.
- Gathering a prestigious crew, famous names in the industry, but why did the film cause historical controversy?
A film that gathers a prestigious crew, all of whom are famous names in Vietnamese cinema, but has a very dangerous historical error. Why? Because they have a lot of fans.
For example, Tran Thanh, director Quang Dung or the film's advisor, director Vinh Son, have many fans. Therefore, those people are willing to support their idols regardless of any reason, they just feel that whatever their idols do is right. But they forget that idols are also human, and as humans, they also have the right to make mistakes.
However, because they are famous, loved and admired by many people, when they make a mistake, their influence is much greater. Therefore, I think that if they are wrong, they should correct it. If necessary, they should admit their mistakes, but they cannot not speak up. The audience also needs explanations, justifications, goodwill, and listening to their opinions to make adjustments that are more suitable for the film.
- Recently, the Cinema Department has re-evaluated the film after many comments from the public. The producer's representative has proactively proposed a plan to edit the film. What is your opinion on this plan?
The producer's representative proactively proposed a film editing plan, accordingly, removing the names and dialogues of "Thien Dia Hoi" and "Nghi Hoa Doan", replacing them with other names unrelated to foreign groups.
According to the film crew, the dialogue in the film will change from the Righteous Boxers to the Southern Boxers and the Heaven and Earth Society to the Righteous Society. This change is to avoid associations with the Heaven and Earth Society and the Righteous Boxers from the Qing Dynasty in China.
I think that changing the names of the two organizations in the film shows the producer's willingness to learn and listen to opinions, but the problem is that even changing the names cannot save the film's weaknesses in terms of content and art.
It can be seen that this is a film that does not have the Southern Forest Land tone but rather a film that praises the secret anti-French association of the Chinese. Can the content of the film and the costumes be changed? The problem here is not the association, but the fact that such details and incidents occurred in the film.
I still think that renaming these two organizations is a temporary solution, not a solution to historical misunderstandings for many audiences, especially young audiences. Especially those who are less interested in history are more likely to cause unnecessary misunderstandings.
I hope that filmmakers will be fair to the audience, not cling to the reputation of the original work Dat rung phuong Nam and choose another suitable name, and can open parentheses to run a sub-title like this is the prequel to Dat rung phuong Nam . Some foreign films also have prequels. And if so, I believe the audience will also open their hearts to the filmmakers' goodwill and ideas.
Le Chi
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