“Dien Bien Phu - Viewed from France”: A new perspective on the campaign

Extracted from a massive body of literature

" Dien Bien Phu - View from France" is a VTV Special documentary produced by the crew of the Foreign Television Department, Vietnam Television. With a duration of 50 minutes, the film "Dien Bien Phu - View from France" is a new perspective on the Dien Bien Phu campaign through valuable information exploited from a massive amount of documents about the campaign.

Most of the information in the film is stored at the Archives of the French Ministry of Defense and the French National Assembly. Many documents have just been declassified. Much information about this historical event that has not been or has been little accessed has been made public.

Behind the scenes of the crew filming the reenactment scene in France. Photo: NVCC

Although they had experience in making historical films, the crew faced many challenges when making a film about Dien Bien Phu. The production time was tight and the Dien Bien Phu theme was over-exploited. Therefore, the crew had to develop ideas and find new perspectives to bring to the audience, which was very difficult.

Starting in mid-February 2024, due to limited time, the team was forced to split into two teams. One person went to film and the other had to spend time reading and collecting the massive amount of documents stored at the French Ministry of Defense. Due to limited time to access information in the archives, the team only had time to quickly read, take photos and bring the information back to Vietnam for analysis, working with the advisory team to find new points.

The film's images were shot in Vietnam and in 4 French cities: Paris, Montpellier, Toulon, Marseille. Reading each page of the documentary, the group tried to build an image so that the audience could visualize the context of the information and feel very emotional.

During their work in France, the team met and interviewed leading experts in Vietnamese history and the Dien Bien Phu victory. During the reenactment in France, the team also received enthusiastic support from French friends.

Behind the scenes of the crew filming the reenactment scene in France. Photo: NVCC

The film “Dien Bien Phu - Viewed from France” deals with the causes, mistakes and failures of the French army in the Dien Bien Phu battle, through the analysis of secret and top secret archives of the French army, and the comments of French generals - those who directly participated in the battle. Through that, the audience will be able to explain why, despite the military strength of the French army, they still failed against the Vietnamese People's Army.

Proud of strong will, strategic talent, skillful combat

Sharing with reporters of the Journalist and Public Opinion newspaper, journalist Tran Thu Ha - Deputy Head of the Foreign Television Department (Vietnam Television) said: "In the process of producing works, we always try to promote novelty in discovering topics, uniqueness in expression and humanity in the messages conveyed, bringing to television audiences new and attractive information and perspectives".

Not many films have mentioned and analyzed in depth the internal conflicts within French politics and generals… who directly commanded and implemented the French military strategy at Dien Bien Phu. The members of the crew have researched and found that this internal conflict was one of the reasons leading to the defeat of the French army at Dien Bien Phu. And some documents archived at the French Defense Ministry have recorded the admissions of some French generals about the reasons for the defeat of the French army at Dien Bien Phu.

Through interviews, the crew researched and found points of intersection of the information provided. Some new information, also received expert evaluation, in each content of the film, the crew had to carefully verify when extracting.

This is also a film with a large number of French research experts, many historians, and French Dien Bien Phu enthusiasts who were searched and selected by the crew. In addition, there are historical witnesses who are French and Vietnamese veterans. In particular, valuable information was exploited from the daily report documents of the French army before, during and after the Dien Bien Phu campaign, which are being stored at the French National Defense and National Assembly Archives Center. These documents were declassified in 2015 and some documents were newly declassified in 2023. There are still some documents that have not been released to the public.

From left to right: Journalist Tran Thu Ha (Deputy Head of Foreign Television Department), veteran Jacques Bouthier, journalist Khuong Quynh Lien. Photo: NVCC

Journalist Tran Thu Ha shared: “When making the film, having access to detailed documents about the French military at Dien Bien Phu and directly talking with French experts, we were truly proud of the indomitable will, strategic talent and skillful combat of our army.”

The film presents a new perspective and fascinating information and images about the deployment of the extremely powerful French military force in Vietnam, but still failed before the strength, solidarity of the Vietnamese people and army in the campaign. Through the film, the audience will feel the pride of our army and our nation before the glorious victory against a powerful French army.

"Dien Bien Phu - View from France" is a VTV Special documentary produced by the crew of the Foreign Television Department, Vietnam Television, aiming at the special event commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu victory.

The film will be broadcast at 8:00 p.m. on May 6 on VTV4 and 8:10 p.m. on May 7 on VTV1.

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/dien-bien-phu--nhin-tu-nuoc-phap-goc-nhin-moi-ve-chien-dich-post293823.html