“Tunnel: Sun in the Dark” not only tells a historical story but also lights up the fire of memory, pride and the desire to reach the light from the dark depths, so that when the last light appears on the screen, we realize that “the sun” is not only the destination of the characters but also a bright ray of hope for us today - peace .

A compelling war film

“Tunnel: Sun in the Dark” is the first Vietnamese film to be released in April, with a wartime theme, aiming to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Liberation of the South and National Reunification. According to data from Box Office Vietnam - a website that aggregates and analyzes box office revenue data across Vietnam, the film officially premiered on April 4, after 4 days of screening, the film earned more than 72.6 billion VND in revenue, with more than 12,000 screenings.

At the screening to introduce the film to the press and professionals in Hanoi , at the end of the film, People's Artist Nhu Quynh shared: "Thank you to the director and the film crew of "Tunnel: Sun in the Dark" for giving us a convincing war story. Until now, my heart is still pounding. The crew left behind a film that when watched, the audience can see how precious freedom and happiness are."

Điểm cộng cho phim “Địa đạo: Mặt trời trong bóng tối”

Image from the movie “Tunnels: Sun in the Dark”. Photo provided by the film crew

The film is set after the Cedar Falls raid in 1967 - a US military campaign to destroy the Southern Liberation Army base. The film opens with a one-shot (shot without cuts) depicting the devastated land of Binh An Dong, Cu Chi, the burnt forests. Female soldier Ba Huong (played by Ho Thu Anh) dives in the river to find her comrades, but only finds corpses among the water hyacinth. The tragic scene takes viewers into the story of a 21-member guerrilla group, led by Bay Theo (played by Thai Hoa). Following orders from their superiors, they stay in Cu Chi to guard the military medical equipment and medicine for the field hospital. However, only Bay Theo knows that their real mission is to protect the area for Hai Thung's (played by Hoang Minh Triet) strategic intelligence group to transmit top secret documents by radio. This responsibility puts the guerrilla team in a life-or-death situation, when the US army locates them and launches a major campaign to attack the tunnels... The film has the help and advice of People's Armed Forces Hero To Van Duc, a guerrilla who lived and fought in the Cu Chi tunnels.

Director Bui Thac Chuyen said that with 128 minutes of film, he did not set out to sketch the whole picture of the tunnels but only to recreate small sections with each individual identity. Therefore, he did not spend much time introducing the portraits and circumstances of the guerrilla team, because no matter where they came from or what age they were, they all had the same ideal: Ready to take up arms to protect the Fatherland.

The film also has many large-scale scenes showing the scale of the battle, such as the scenes of tanks, armored vehicles, and helicopters sweeping the area. The director repeatedly used contrasting shooting techniques to highlight the difference in strength between the guerrillas and the American soldiers. Towards the end, the film's pace became more intense when the American army penetrated the tunnel, forcing each soldier into a "life-or-death" situation.

Great artistry in film

Director, Meritorious Artist Nguyen Xuan Son said that what he values most in the film is that he doesn’t see any actors but only soldiers, Southerners fighting in the Cu Chi tunnels. “That’s a great thing about director Bui Thac Chuyen. This is a new film about the Vietnamese war with great artistic value,” said director Nguyen Xuan Son.

Following the journey of the film from the first announcements (11 years ago), when director Bui Thac Chuyen was thinking about a revolutionary war film, journalist Nguyen Ngoc (writing theoretical criticism of the film industry) shared: “Tunnels: Sun in the Dark” has the stature of a historical revolutionary war film, creating a new milestone for Vietnamese cinema. Instead of exploiting the tragic and weak aspects of people before the war to “draw” tears, the director chose a rough, realistic perspective and the suffocation below the tunnels to recreate a slice of a historical period and evoke the spirit of patriotism. The director’s way of telling the story in “Tunnels: Sun in the Dark” is like children gathering to listen to their fathers tell historical stories. The grandfathers and uncles will tell many small stories, many slices. And then, in the end, those stories gradually penetrated the children and the story ended, everyone was excited, clapping their hands endlessly as they drew the whole picture of the heroic history of their ancestors. “Tunnel: Sun in the Dark” is a film that brings such precious feelings. It awakens the belief that Vietnamese cinema can reach further and deeper horizons, to dream together of even greater things.

In response to the audience's affection for the film, director Bui Thac Chuyen expressed: "I am grateful to all the audiences who came to support the film. Our wish has always been to make a film aimed at celebrating the 50th anniversary of the country's reunification and to be able to show it to as many people as possible, so that everyone can feel that our ancestors knew how to fight and could defeat any enemy, no matter how strong they were."

According to People's Army

Source: https://baoangiang.com.vn/diem-cong-cho-phim-dia-dao-mat-troi-trong-bong-toi--a418548.html