Mui co chay (2011) User Reviews

Stark contrast to Hollywood Vietnam films

[imranahmedsg · 7/10 · 9 December 2020]

The story of four patriotic Vietnamese boys who join the North Vietnamese army in their fight to liberate South Vietnam.

Not quite a propaganda film though it stands in stark contrast to the American perspective on display in most Vietnam war films.

The film combines romance, nationalism and even attempts humor. It does provide insights into the war but mostly focuses on the personal stories.

Filmed in 2012, the movie comes across as a simplistic 1970s war drama, almost amateurish in parts. Nonetheless, the film is a worthy attempt at showing the Vietnam war in a light often missed by most.

Very low budget and a lot of inaccuracies

[tazui-06638 · 1/10 · 13 February 2022]

This movie is one of many reasons why Vietnamese Z Gen and younger millenials are hesitant to study Vietnamese contemporary history.

Firstly the movie was insane low budget which was round 250K USD, and when it was sent to Academy for award competition the movie of course didn't make it to final rounds because cinematography was really bad. I thought the movie was shot on a bad Sony camera from 90s, there was a lot grains and quality is VHS at best. Sound effect was extremely badly done as well, a lot of sycn issues. The movie was shot in 2012 and the quality was on part with low budget movies shot in the 90s.

Secondly, the movie was very confusing as it depicted 2nd battle of Quang Tri during which NVA clashed with SVA Marines, however, the director didn't make it clear to the audience at all. Instead we as viewers saw a bunch of innocent kids joining the fight. I felt bad that director showed VIetnamese soldiers as bunch of incompetent idiots, in reality many of them were battle hardened veterans. Depiction of Southern VIetnamese Army was really bad as well.

Please do me a favour, don't watch this movie. Unlike both battles of Quang Tri where Northern Vietnamese army soldiers displayed valour and heroism, the movie did a disservice.