Forgetting Vietnam was a very disappointing film.
The cinematography was very well done and extremely evocative of Vietnamese urban and rural landscapes, street scenes, temples, and waterways. Anyone who has spent time in Viet Nam (note correct spelling of the name of the country) will recognize time and time again scenes in the movie that resonate with their experiences travelling in that country. Focal points for the film were Ha Long Bay, the Red River Delta, Ha Noi, Hue, Ninh Binh, far too little of Sai Gon, and the canals of the Mekong River Delta, so it was not a complete visual portrayal of the country. The Northern Highlands, the Central Highlands, the agricultural part of the Mekong Delta, and much of central Viet Nam were missing from the cinematic montage, and there were but two hints of or homages to the multiplicity of ethnic groups in the country.
The movie failed utterly in the text that accompanied the cinematography. There was no narration but instead words, phrases, and quotes appeared and disappeared throughout the film and this text that we were presented with throughout the film demonstrated an appalling lack of understanding of Vietnamese society, culture, and history. I don't know where to begin here, this aspect of the film is so completely flawed and demonstrated so clearly the filmmakers were either completely ignorant of the complexity of Vietnamese history or chose to focus completely on a very superficial and trite perspective of recent Vietnamese history. This of course meant very simplistic presentations of Viet Nam's current situation, for example, of rapid economic growth combined with state control, as if this was something really important that all Vietnamese think about every day, which they don't. There was a focus on what the movie called "the Vietnam War" as if this was the singular event in Vietnamese history, without a single exploration of Viet Nam's long struggle for independence, starting with the Chinese, then the French, then the Japanese, then the French, then the Americans, then the Chinese, and then the Cambodians for a brief moment. The result of all this does a disservice to the Vietnamese and Viet Nam as a nation. Other examples of this type of incomplete and narrow treatment of themes presented include the dynamic and tension between northern Viet Nam and southern Viet Nam, the state and religion, land and water, and others.
Littered throughout the text that appeared were sayings that attempted to seem full of deep meaning and demonstrate, I guess, the yin and yang of this world, sayings that read like "the large is in the small, and the small is in the large". The text was littered with these sorts of sayings and actually reinforced how trite the treatment of the subject of the so-called 40th anniversary of the end of the Viet Nam War, which incidentally ended in 1972 and so the film celebrates the 43rd anniversary of the end of the Viet Nam War; this error illustrates yet again the lack of care in making this film, as the film actually marks the 40th anniversary of the reunification of the country of Viet Nam, in 1975.
The text that appeared and disappeared on screen throughout the movie contained grammatical and spelling errors, different fonts and font sizes within individual words, and "Viet Nam" misspelled throughout as "Vietnam"; clearly no one did a thorough edit of the text. Also, the film uses the term "South China Sea" instead of the Vietnamese term, "East Sea", small things like that which add to the superficiality of the entire film.
In summary, the film is a trite, superficial, and unsympathetic treatment of Viet Nam, her people, her culture, and her society, created with little or no substantive treatment of the big issues facing the country 40 years after reunification. It adds little to anyone's understanding of that country.
The cinematography was very well done and extremely evocative of Vietnamese urban and rural landscapes, street scenes, temples, and waterways. Anyone who has spent time in Viet Nam (note correct spelling of the name of the country) will recognize time and time again scenes in the movie that resonate with their experiences travelling in that country. Focal points for the film were Ha Long Bay, the Red River Delta, Ha Noi, Hue, Ninh Binh, far too little of Sai Gon, and the canals of the Mekong River Delta, so it was not a complete visual portrayal of the country. The Northern Highlands, the Central Highlands, the agricultural part of the Mekong Delta, and much of central Viet Nam were missing from the cinematic montage, and there were but two hints of or homages to the multiplicity of ethnic groups in the country.
The movie failed utterly in the text that accompanied the cinematography. There was no narration but instead words, phrases, and quotes appeared and disappeared throughout the film and this text that we were presented with throughout the film demonstrated an appalling lack of understanding of Vietnamese society, culture, and history. I don't know where to begin here, this aspect of the film is so completely flawed and demonstrated so clearly the filmmakers were either completely ignorant of the complexity of Vietnamese history or chose to focus completely on a very superficial and trite perspective of recent Vietnamese history. This of course meant very simplistic presentations of Viet Nam's current situation, for example, of rapid economic growth combined with state control, as if this was something really important that all Vietnamese think about every day, which they don't. There was a focus on what the movie called "the Vietnam War" as if this was the singular event in Vietnamese history, without a single exploration of Viet Nam's long struggle for independence, starting with the Chinese, then the French, then the Japanese, then the French, then the Americans, then the Chinese, and then the Cambodians for a brief moment. The result of all this does a disservice to the Vietnamese and Viet Nam as a nation. Other examples of this type of incomplete and narrow treatment of themes presented include the dynamic and tension between northern Viet Nam and southern Viet Nam, the state and religion, land and water, and others.
Littered throughout the text that appeared were sayings that attempted to seem full of deep meaning and demonstrate, I guess, the yin and yang of this world, sayings that read like "the large is in the small, and the small is in the large". The text was littered with these sorts of sayings and actually reinforced how trite the treatment of the subject of the so-called 40th anniversary of the end of the Viet Nam War, which incidentally ended in 1972 and so the film celebrates the 43rd anniversary of the end of the Viet Nam War; this error illustrates yet again the lack of care in making this film, as the film actually marks the 40th anniversary of the reunification of the country of Viet Nam, in 1975.
The text that appeared and disappeared on screen throughout the movie contained grammatical and spelling errors, different fonts and font sizes within individual words, and "Viet Nam" misspelled throughout as "Vietnam"; clearly no one did a thorough edit of the text. Also, the film uses the term "South China Sea" instead of the Vietnamese term, "East Sea", small things like that which add to the superficiality of the entire film.
In summary, the film is a trite, superficial, and unsympathetic treatment of Viet Nam, her people, her culture, and her society, created with little or no substantive treatment of the big issues facing the country 40 years after reunification. It adds little to anyone's understanding of that country.
