Introduction

Introduction | Appreciation | Reflection of The Waste Land

1979 black and white movie 105 minutes

1979 Black and White Movie 105 Minute Vietnam Feature Film Comprehensive Enterprise Production

Director: Ruan Hongxian Screenplay: Ruan Guangchuang Photography: Tang Junsan Main Actor: Lin Dao (as Sandu) Cui An (as Liu Chai)

This film won 1980 Golden Lotus Award in the 5th Vietnam Film Festival, four awards for best screenwriter, best director, best cinematographer and best actor, and 12 Gold Award in Moscow International Film Festival.

abstract

This is the story of 1972, which happened in the Tongtamei area when the US military just invaded the Mekong Delta.

Tongtamei area is a strategic place, known as the "front navel". In order to cut off the connection between the east and west battlefields of the Vietnamese liberation armed forces, the US puppet troops attempted to create a no-man's land here. Their helicopters and motorboats are constantly hovering, searching and attacking in Tontamay, which hinders the contact and coordinated action between the armed forces.

During the rainy season, the whole Tongtamei is soaked in the water. Only patches of ragged reeds and young trees emerged from the water. In this vast wasteland, only the young farmer Sandu and his wife Liu Chai live here with their babbling son. There is a big tree in the semi-flooded bush, and a small hut is built on the branches, which is their home. Their means of transportation is an uncovered boat, whose task is to lead the way and deliver news to the guerrillas.

Sandu is an experienced tour guide. He is familiar with every small canal and fork here. During the day, Sandu and Liuchai grow rice in the flooded fields and touch fish and shrimp in the river. When the enemy plane attacked, they put the child in a wooden basin and cleverly avoided the enemy. In the evening, Sandu helped guerrillas escort troops to the front and led ships to transport goods.

During the short break, Sandu's family of three chatted in the cabin and teased the children. Accidentally, the child fell into the water, and Sandu jumped down to save the child and blamed Liu Chai.

The guerrillas were waiting for an opportunity to cross Tongtamei nearby, and Sandu reported the situation to the guerrillas. Some guerrillas were cooking in the Woods, and Sandu immediately stopped them, because the smoke would be found by the enemy when it floated. Sure enough, the enemy plane opened fire on this place and the team immediately moved.

The us military has realized that there are people in tongtamei. The US military commander confessed to his US lieutenant: "There is still one person alive in Tongtamei, which is the failure of our will!" The us military has stepped up its search.

In the evening, Sandu and his wife went to cut rice, and the enemy plane came again. Sandu and his wife quickly hid. After the enemy filmed the scene of cutting rice, he was studying countermeasures. Captain America has just received photos from his wife and son in America. He told his colleagues that he could take a vacation after finishing the task.

Enemy planes have been hovering over the wasteland.

Sandu and his wife had an argument about one thing, and Liu Chai went to the guerrillas in a rage. Sandu didn't see six women when he came back from a mission, rowing in the vast wasteland to find them. Liu Chai is also rowing in search of Sandu. Two people shouted to each other, and the two boats walked among reeds, water lilies and lotus flowers, and finally approached, and they hugged each other tightly. They love each other more than before.

The fighting environment is getting worse and worse. Sandu and his wife were having dinner when the enemy plane came to search again. Sandu and his wife hid in the reeds with their children in their arms. Enemy planes swooped overhead and Sandu and his family dived into the water. After the enemy plane passed by, Sandu quickly opened the plastic bag containing the children. Enemy planes frantically opened fire on the bushes where Sandu and his wife built the hut, destroying the hut and the ship.

The next day, enemy planes continued their search. Sandu went on a mission to help the guerrillas cross Tongtamei. Sandu died unfortunately. Liu Chai brought Sandu's body back. Angry Liu Chai picked up Sandu's gun and shot down the enemy plane. The American lieutenant died on the spot, and the photos of his wife and children fell out of his coat pocket.

Distinguish and appreciate

The film "Wasteland" directed by Ruan Hongxian, which reflects the people's struggle to resist America and save the country in southern Vietnam, is different from previous war films. In the past, war films focused on stories and represented characters through events. The characters in this film are more prominent than the events, and the war is only used as a background to set off the activities of the characters. By describing people's personality, psychology and destiny, it shows people's mental outlook in a specific environment from a unique perspective. The appearance of this film broadens the way for the creation of Vietnamese feature films and becomes one of the important works in Vietnamese feature films.

The film director Ruan Hongxian (1935 ~ 1995) is one of the outstanding film photographers and directors in Vietnam. He was born in southern Vietnam, participated in the anti-French struggle, studied photography in his early years, and assembled in the north in 1954. The documentary "North Xinghai" filmed by 1958 won the gold medal at 1958 Moscow International Film Festival, which is the first time that a Vietnamese documentary has won the gold medal at an international film festival. Ruan Hongxian also made many documentaries and some feature films, and won many awards at home and abroad. Known by the Vietnamese film industry as "an excellent photographer with quick thinking, fighting, exploration, creativity and poetry". 1976 Ruan Hongxian went to the Federal Republic of Germany and Hungary to study and study movies. 1978 returned to China to direct the feature film "Northeast Wind Season" for the first time, reflecting the life and fighting of the people in the Jiulong River Plain in southern Vietnam. The film won 1979 jury award of Moscow International Film Festival and 1980 Silver Lotus Award of the 5th Vietnam Film Festival. 1979, Ruan Hongxian directed the second feature film. He gave full play to his talent in photography and directing, and made a film called "The Wasteland", which is the pride of the Vietnamese film industry and is known as a "poetic film".

Although there are not many feature films directed by Ruan Hongxian, their features are outstanding. He is mainly the object in the most intense and harsh environment. He described people who fought face to face with the enemy in a tense state, which fully exposed their personalities, thus fully embodying revolutionary heroism in the battle.

The story of Wasteland is very simple. It tells the story of Sandu and his wife, a traffic policeman in the Tongtamei area of southern Vietnam, overcoming all kinds of difficulties, fighting against the US puppet troops and completing their tasks. Ruan Hongxian's original creation arranged the story in Tongtamei area with beautiful scenery, natural poetry and extremely bad fighting environment, and took the wasteland as the development space of the story and the environment where the protagonist lived, worked and fought. Directors and photographers have created a real atmosphere of the times and a war environment. The photographer's excellent photography technology allows people to enjoy the beautiful scenery of Tongtamei area in a tense and intense state. The poetry of the film is reflected in the simple story and the simple and harmonious combination of nature and human life.

The film actually records the life of the protagonist Sandu and his wife for a few days, and these days have been spent in hail from beginning to end, pursued by detectives from enemy helicopters. The happy life of Sandu family and the cruelty of the enemy have formed a fierce conflict, which has become the main line of film development. In the film, people see the repeated images of Sandu and his wife working and living in the wasteland, avoiding helicopters and American helicopters constantly searching and shooting the wasteland, and the repeated natural scenes in Tongtamei area, which set off these images. These recurring images contain an irresistible charm, which makes people feel that in this asymmetric battle, there are American puppet troops with helicopters and modern weapons and equipment on one side and two patriotic farmers with a child and a road on the other. It is not only symbolic, but also practical and political for two kind people to resist the huge war machine of American imperialism. In fact, it tells people that what is described here is two forces, a contest between justice and injustice, which embodies the indomitable struggle spirit of the Vietnamese nation and American imperialism. Thus, the film tells a philosophy: life will never be destroyed. Although the enemy is so cruel and tries every means to destroy it, life still exists and multiplies. The typicality and generality of the film are reflected here.

The artistic features of movies are real and have regional characteristics. Director Ruan Hongxian is familiar with this land and has a soft spot for southern waters. He has a deep understanding of the sufferings of the southern people, their personalities and psychological activities, so he has the characteristics of southerners in the description of characters in the film. He handled the relationship between characters, husband and wife and the relationship between the enemy and the motherland just right, and described the details and scenes of characters' activities on the water vividly and credibly. For example, there is no army or fighting in the film, and there is little dialogue, sometimes almost silent, but it is in line with the living environment at that time. For example, describe the details of the Sandu family's life and labor: the tableware they didn't have time to clean up after dinner, the ripe rice they didn't finish eating, collecting firewood and fishing under the search of enemy planes and so on. In order to avoid the enemy's shooting, they run on the wasteland with their children in their arms, sometimes put them in wooden pots, and even put them into plastic bags to dive into the water if they have to. These scenes make people feel that this is what happened in the war. Children born in that era were already cruel by the war in their infancy, and they were involved in the war prematurely. Their blood and bones are aggressive. This true description is very touching.

The outstanding artistic achievement of this film is to create a true and credible image of the peasant traffic police in southern Vietnam. His behavior is permeated with the personality characteristics of southerners. The actor is Lin Dao, an outstanding Vietnamese artist (now a people's artist) and a famous film actor. Lin Dao was born in Tongtamei. He has experienced a struggle with the law since he was a child and worked as a traffic policeman. 65438-0954 gather in the north to learn film performances. Years of life experience and the accumulation of artistic practice have enabled him to successfully create a simple, natural, authentic and credible image of the peasant traffic police. He fully embodies the heroic, kind, simple and great character of modern Vietnamese by reappearing the details of daily life and fighting and subtly portraying psychological activities. Lin Dao's outstanding performance won him the Best Actor Award in the 5th Vietnam Film Festival (1980).

Ruan Hongxian used some contrast techniques to enhance the artistic effect of the film. In the film, efforts are made to render a short quiet moment and leisurely life of a small family to set off the ferocity of the enemy; The water lilies and lotus flowers in the film are not only camouflage, but also decorate the boat of the heroine Liu Chai. Flowers and people, background and character psychology are rubbed together, and the meaning is very profound. In terms of acoustic effect, the rumble of the helicopter is in sharp contrast with the shrill cry of the hairy chicken in the water.

After The Waste Land was completed, it caused some controversy in Vietnam, and the focus of the debate was real life and artistic fiction. Someone asked, how can a traffic police couple live alone in a flooded wasteland in their lives? Who put them there? American helicopters search and attack day and night. Why is that hut so strong? Especially the controversy at the end of the film: the US helicopter was shot down by Liu Chai, the US lieutenant was killed, and the photos of his wife and children fell out of his coat pocket. The scene stayed on the screen for a few seconds. Someone asked, does the author have some sympathy for the death of the enemy? Many people suggested deleting the end of this paragraph. Vietnamese leaders and the Film Arts Committee decided to keep the ending and send the film to Moscow to attend the international film festival. The film was highly praised and won the gold medal. Some critics think this is a special film that Vietnamese films have never seen before. The artistry, typicality and generality of the film lie in the fact that there are only two lonely people and a small hut on the wasteland, but the US military failed to destroy them. What does the US military say about destroying a nation? The ending of the film is very humane, which not only conforms to the desire of the world's progressive mankind, but also has profound implications: the war provoked by American imperialism in Vietnam not only caused losses and sufferings to the Vietnamese people, but also involved the US military and its relatives in this tragedy, and the Vietnamese people and Americans all hope for peace and happiness. After the film was released in Vietnam, it was well received by the audience. It is believed that there is such a feature film in Vietnam for the first time, which explains the indomitable spirit of the Vietnamese people in the Anti-Japanese War. The spirit of the Vietnamese people has been fully reflected in the protagonist Sandu and his wife. Although the director's personal thoughts in the film are strong, and some places are not handled well enough, such as the attitude of dealing with Liu Chai after the sacrifice of Sandu is not accurate enough, and the death of the American captain is overemphasized, The Waste Land is still a rare excellent representative film about the Vietnamese people's struggle to resist the United States and save the country.