Vietnamese Movies and Films Resources

While most other countries saw their national film industries emerge in the safety of film studios and controlled outdoor settings, the Vietnamese Movies had its emergence along the frontlines of the successful military campaign to oust the illegal French colonial rule from Indochina.

In the early 1950s, the North Vietnamese Communist leader Ho Chi Minh understood the power that films could wield in rallying the people behind his cause. But, at that time Vietnam had no national cinema and the few theaters that were based in Saigon presented French fare.

The focus and personality of the Vietnamese Movies was crude but the true drama was played out in the scenes capturing the horrific images of war. "Gao Rang” is one of the earliest Vietnamese Movies, which was blessed with insightful interviews that were provided by the men who captured the wars on film.

Of these interviews, the most impressive ones are the recollections of May Loc. May Loc had shot the first Vietnamese shots of a guerrilla explosion of a Saigon-bound train in 1953 only to go tumbling along with his equipment into a river during a bomb-heavy counterattack.

Of course the Vietnamese Movies have come a very long way since these initial days. Now the Vietnamese Movies that are being made speak volumes in terms of substance and the content portrayed in the movies. The Vietnamese Movies have truly evolved over a period of time to become what they have today.

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