Vietnamese Movies and DVDs

These Vietnamese movies, films and DVDs include a wide range of videos showcasing the Vietnamese experiences. There are DVDs for children showing how families live in Vietnam, movie guides for families about Vietnam travel, and also Vietnamese cultural movies from Vietnam and the United States.
Rescue Dawn (2006)
In 1965, while bombing Laos in a classified mission, the plane of the German-American pilot Dieter Dengler is hit and crashes in the jungle. Dieter is arrested by the peasants, tortured and sent to a prisoner camp, where he meets five other mentally ill prisoners. He becomes close to Duane and organizes an escape plan; however, the unstable Gene opposes to Dieter's plan. When they discover that there is no more food due to the constant American bombings in the area and their guards intend to kill them, Dieter sets his plan in motion. However, an unexpected betrayal split the group and Dieter and Duane find that the jungle is their actual prison.
Journey From The Fall (2006)
The first major American film to dramatize the traumatic aftermath of the Vietnam War from a Vietnamese perspective. Unlike Hollywood films with a one-sided focus on the American psyche, Ham Tran’s impressive feature-length debut delves into the stories of those left behind after the fall of Saigon. Despite his allegiance to the toppled South Vietnamese government, Long Nguyen decides to remain in Vietnam. Arrested and imprisoned in a Communist re-education camp, he urges his family to make the treacherous escape by boat without him. They embark on the arduous ocean voyage, braving sickness, starvation and pirates in the hope of reaching the U.S. and freedom. Back in Vietnam, Long suffers years of solitary confinement and hard labor, and finally despairs that his family has perished. But news of their successful resettlement in America inspires him to make one last desperate attempt to join them.
KIEU (2006)
In every person's life, there are eight doors. You never know which door will open and what day it will be. There are even some days when all the doors open. Kiều transforms Truyện Kiều (The Tale of Kiều), a classic Việtnamese epic poem, into a visually stunning, modern-day feature length film about self-revelation and renewal. The first film of its kind, Kiều portrays the experience of a massage parlor worker in San Francisco’s Tenderloin District who balances faith in the face of contradictions daily. As the story rapidly unfolds within a twenty-four hour period, so does Kiều. On this day, her life is on the brink of change; a letter from home, visits from a kindred spirit, and unexpected turn of events flow into a collision of past, present and future. One by one, fragments of her fate merge. Like Truyện Kiều, Kiều is an honest telling of women’s survival, perseverance, and compassion against incredible odds.
The Beautiful Country (2004)
One of the consequences of America's involvement in the Vietnam war, was the children of GI's by their Vietnamese wives and lovers. For years those women who were involved with Americans were social outcasts, treated as collaborators while their children, even when living with grandparents, endured taunts and abuse. This is the story of one such love child, Binh, being forced from his village at 17, going to Saigon to find his mother, then trying to escape to America with his much younger half brother, Tam, in 1990. The film lingers on the rigors of the voyage: the sampan, the Malaysian detention camps, the illegal refugee ship, and the underground economy with near slavery in New York City. It finally opens up when Binh leaves New York for Houston to find his father.
Buffalo Boy (2004)
Set along the southern coast of Vietnam during the French occupation in the 1940s, water is everywhere and giving life and bringing decay and rot. Kim is 15; his father and step-mother have two buffalo, their lifeline as subsistence rice farmers. During the rainy season, there's no grass and the buffalo are starving. Kim volunteers to take the beasts inland to find food. On this coming-of-age journey, Kim sees men mistreat women, men fight with men, and French taxes rob the poor. He works for Lap, a buffalo herder whose past is entangled with Kim's parents, and he makes friends who will lead him to his place in the world.
Families of Vietnam (Families of the World) (2004)
Shows the lives of two children and their families in Vietnam - way of life, family interaction, foods and celebrations.
In Families of Vietnam, four-year-old Tran Ngoc Anh Thu (Bi) lives by Mekong river with her family. She attends school and enjoys spending time with her friends and older brother. Her parents work their farm and banana and papaya plantation in the morning, then set off on their "boat store," selling small livestock, fruits and vegetables and grains to customers out on the river.
In Ho Chi Minh city, nine-year-old Le Thi Thanh Hong goes to school where she studies French, art and reading; plays games with friends; and enjoys a rest period. Her parents both work for the city. After school the family enjoys bowling, then Hong practices piano. Homework, with help from her brother, follows, and then it's off to bed with the growing anticipation of tomorrow's Vietnam's New Year. The next day Hong enjoys swimming at the community pool and the New Year Tet festivities, including the dragon dancing and fireworks.
Globe Trekker – Vietnam (2004)
Situated on the eastern coast of the Indochinese peninsula, Vietnam stretches 1,000 miles from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City. A socialist republic, it opened its doors to travelers only a few years ago and now offers an intriguing mix of traditional charm and emerging development. Traveler Justine Shapiro starts her journey by celebrating the New Year at the TET Festival in Ho Chi Minh City. From there she ventures up the coast taking in the unspoiled beaches of Lang Co and the city of Hué. After a bicycle tour of the capital, Hanoi, she ends her journey in the remote highlands near the Chinese border.
Along the Way - · Descend into subterranean tunnels once inhabited by the Viet Cong. · Sail beautiful Halong Bay. · Take a day trip down the Perfume River on a converted barge. · Drink the juice of a snake to ward off sickness. · Ride the Reunification Express.
Exploring Vietnam (2003)
Exploring Vietnam gives us a much better understanding of the long history of the Vietnamese people. This travelog starts in Bangkok, Thailand with two days of sightseeing before flying to Hanoi, Vietnam. Tour around Hanoi and Ha Long on the Tonkin Gulf. Travel to Danang, Hoi An, Hue and Saigon, now called Ho Chi Minh City.
Learn about the unique Vietnamese culture through the food and visits to markets, museums and historical sites. With beautiful countryside and beaches, Viet Nam is full of surprises.
Visit the Hanoi Hilton which is what the United States prisoners called this prison during the Vietnam War. Look at the Cu Chi Tunnels where Vietcong hid during the war and from the French colonist befor it. See beautiful China Beach which was an R&R spot for American Military.
See how the Vietnamese people live today and learn about some of the history of this country.
The Quiet American (2002)
Saigon, 1952, a beautiful, exotic, and mysterious city caught in the grips of the Vietnamese war of liberation from the French colonial powers. New arrival Alden Pyle, an idealistic American aid worker, befriends London Times correspondent Thomas Fowler. When Fowler introduces Pyle to his beautiful young Vietnamese mistress Phuong the three become swept up in a tempestuous love triangle that leads to a series of startling revelations and finally - murder. Nothing, and no one, is as it seems, in this adaptation of Graham Greene's classic and prophetic story of love, betrayal, murder and the origin of the American war in Vietnam.
Green Dragon (2001)
A tale about Vietnamese refugees sent to an orientation camp on the Camp Pendleton Marine Base in California, 'Green Dragon' focuses on a young boy and his sister. Set in 1975, the film chronicles the stories told to the two children by other refugees in the camp and of Tai Tran, who dares to introduce himself to Sergeant Jim Lance. In developing a relationship with Lance, Tran is able to improve conditions and communication for all in the refugee camp.
The Vertical Ray of the Sun (2000)
With the brilliant Vietnamese summer as a setting Vertical Ray of the Sun is beautiful from beginning to end. The plot centres around three sisters, two of whom are happily married (or so it appears). The youngest sister is single and living with her cute older brother, whom she is desperately in love with. A second sister is married to a man who has another woman and child elsewhere whom he loves just as much as his wife -with a few conditions, she agrees to carry on with the marriage. The third sister and her husband are overjoyed to discover she is pregnant, and though he is tempted, her husband remains loyal to her. Charming, slow-paced, face value, family saga film.
Three Seasons (1999)
An American in Ho Chi Minh City looks for a daughter he fathered during the war. He meets Woody, a child who's a street vendor, and when Woody's case of wares disappears, he thinks the soldier took it. Woody hunts for him. A cyclo driver, Hai, gives a ride to Lan, a hotel call girl, and starts waiting for her daily; he falls in love with her and tries to break through her tough veneer. Kien An, a young woman, takes a job harvesting lotuses in the ponds of Teacher Dao, a reclusive man who has leprosy. Her singing awakens him from depression, and he asks her to write down poetry he has composed. The characters' paths cross in small ways, around flowers and kindnesses.
Vietnam: A History (1997)
Provides a comprehensive look at both sides of the Vietnam War through a collection of personal tales and delves into the political and military events in the United States and elsewhere that originally caused the war and the brought it to an end.
Hitchhiking Vietnam: Letters from the Trail (1997)
Have you ever dreamed of escaping it all? Karin Muller did. The 28-year-old former management consultant takes a fascinating solo trek through an enchanted Vietnam far off the tourist map, from the hustling back streets of Saigon and Hanoi to a remote Hmong tribal mountain village few foreigners have ever seen. Hitchhiking Vietnam is narrated partially by the letters she wrote home to her mother, but she also shows us "what I didn't tell my mother I was up to." Hitchhiking with soldiers, riding a motorbike, driving a train are just a few of her adventures. This is not a travel guide; rather, it is video memoir, a visual diary of her trip abroad. Thus, while we get plenty of incredible footage of scenery and locals, we are often treated to trite and judgmental narration (about one woman she comments, "She was dying of tuberculosis, but the real evil was the brown paste in her hand: [long dramatic pause] opium"). If you can move beyond this, though, and accept that this is Muller's personal account and opinions, the story and footage are inspiring. She has successfully managed to pack her seven-months into this compact and well-edited hour-long documentary about traveling off the beaten path.
Raise The Bamboo Curtain: Vietnam, Cambodia and Burma (1996)
This is the original version of the much heralded "Raising The Bamboo Curtain" narrated and produced by legendary travel filmmaker Rick Ray. Sneaking his cameras past Burmese and Cambodian customs officials and getting around the country to produce one of the best travel docs ever made, Rick has outdone himself - again!
"Our whole family enjoys travel movies. Unfortunately they are hard to find for Southeast Asia. I am so pleased that this video is now available for travelers to Vietnam. A fun way to prepare yourself mentally for your trip." (Allison Martin)
Cyclo (1995)
A young man who struggles through life by earning some money with his bicycle-taxi in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh city) gets contact to a group of criminals. They introduce him to the mafia-world of drugs and crime. By Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung (The Scent of Green Papaya), a sad and violent view of the seamy side of Ho Chi Minh City.
Heaven and Earth (1993)
The final movie in Oliver Stone's Vietnam trilogy follows the true story of a Vietnamese village girl who survives a life of suffering and hardship during and after the Vietnam war. As a freedom fighter, a hustler, young mother, a sometime prostitute, and the wife of a US. marine, the girl's relationships with men suggests an analogy of Vietnam as Woman and the U.S. as Man.
The Scent of Green Papaya (1993)
A little girl, Mui, went to a house as a new servant. The mother still mourns the death of her daughter, who would have been Mui's age. In her mind she treated Mui as her daughter. 10 years later Mui (now a young woman) was sent to another family, a young pianist and his wife. The musician falls in love with the peasant, he taught her literacy and they eventually married. A movie about a girl's life.
Remember My Lai (1989)
Of all the painful memories of Vietnam, none cut more deeply into America's vision of itself than the massacre at My Lai. ''Remember My Lai,'' quietly powerful documentary, brings back the terrible day of March 16, 1968, when American soldiers killed hundreds of Vietnamese villagers. A well researched documentary by BBC.
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Story follows a group of Marine recruits from the harrowing experience of boot camp to the horrifying battlefronts of Vietnam. A two-segment look at the effect of the military mindset and war itself on Vietnam era Marines. The first half follows a group of recruits in basic training under the command of the punishing Sgt. Hartman. The second half shows one of those recruits, Joker, covering the war as a correspondent for Stars and Stripes, focusing on the Tet offensive.
The Deer Hunter (1978)
Michael, Steven and Nick are young factory workers from Pennsylvania who enlist into the Army to fight in Vietnam. Before they go, Steven marries the pregnant Angela and their wedding-party is also the men's farewell party. After some time and many horrors the three friends fall in the hands of the Vietcong and are brought to a prison camp in which they are forced to play Russian roulette against each other. Michael makes it possible for them to escape, but they soon get separated again.
Hearts and Minds (1974)
This film recounts the history and attitudes of the opposing sides of the Vietnam War using archival news footage as well as their own film and interviews. A key theme is how attitudes of American racism and self-righteousness militarism helped create and prolong this bloody conflict. The film also endeavors to give voice to the Vietnamese people themselves as to how the war has affected them and their reasons why they fight the United States and other western powers while showing the basic humanity of the people that US propaganda tried to dismiss. "Hearts & Minds" won the 1975 Academy Award for best documentary.


Vietnamese Recommended Reading