Abstract:

The war in Vietnam was the most filmed conflict in world history. But, unlike the thousands of Western journalists, a small band of North Vietnamese and NLF cameramen has largely been forgotten, though they founded Vietnamese cinema. GAO RANG (meaning grilled or burnt rice) tells the story of these cameramen/soldiers. In their own words, they describe their experiences filming in combat, first against the French and later the Americans. Mai Loc and Khoung Mê, two veterans from the French war, tell of acquiring the first cameras and instruction manuals. Mr. Xuong, a traveling projectionist during both wars, recalls projecting films along the 17th Parallel, and remembers how the public reacted to the films. Tran Van Thuy (director of HOW TO BEHAVE, also distributed by First Run/Icarus Films) and Lê Man Thich (Director at the Studio for Documentary Films in Hanoi) screen some of the material that they shot. They describe the hardship and fear they faced in combat and during American bombings. For all of them, "to make propaganda was obvious." But they also discuss their regrets. Thuy says "If we had had a more critical historical awareness, we could have left much better images." Their films give the impression that everything was easy. They didn't film enough of the hard daily life, and regret the many "heroic deaths that were not filmed." It would have been "useless," the footage would not have been used. Today, much of the footage these cameramen and their comrades shot is disappearing. The cost of preserving and storing the film is too expensive. Their history (and part of ours) is being "recycled" for a few bits of silver.