Tunnels - When historical materials breathe life into Vietnamese cinema

Amidst the peaceful forests of Cu Chi, there are still silent traces of a fierce war. The narrow underground passages – tunnels – are relics of the creativity and steely will of the Vietnamese people in the midst of the fire of war.

But the tunnels - and more broadly, history - today not only remain underground, in exhibits or textbooks, sometimes revived through cinematic footage.

The Tunnels is set in the backdrop of the major US offensive in 1967 – Operation Cedar Falls, where the US military mobilized more than 30,000 soldiers to flatten the “Iron Triangle” – including the Cu Chi Tunnels. But they could not have imagined that deep underground, there was a solid and flexible tunnel system – a real underground city, where thousands of Vietnamese soldiers still lived, fought and resisted.

For director Bui Thac Chuyen, bringing a historical story to the screen is not simply a re-enactment of events, but a journey of living with the characters and the times. The director does not embellish the past, but recreates it with realistic visual art that makes the underground space seem to breathe.

The battles, the sacrifices, the lives of a not-so-distant past are told in the unique language of cinema, intimate without losing its heroism.

“Tunnels” is also proof that historical-war films do not have to be dry, but can be intimate and touching, allowing audiences – even in peacetime – to feel the breath of a fierce era./.

(Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/dia-dao-khi-chat-lieu-lich-su-thoi-hon-vao-nen-dien-anh-viet-post1025031.vnp