Director Thanh Van talked about some of the challenges he faced in making a state-funded historical film about the battle of Dien Bien Phu, which received quite a bit of negative criticism.

Thanh Van directs a scene

"Song cung lich su" or "Living with history" is one of ten movies made to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Dien Bien Phu Victory. The movie, released on April 25, cost VND21 billion (USD1 million) in state funds.

State-funded movies made for special events are often put under greater scrutiny and have often been called a waste of money because of weak cast or content. Even though the 21 billion spent this year has angered many people, the director said that the funding did not represent an increase over previous movies.

Van said, "Ten years ago, VND13 billion was spent on "Ky uc dien bien" (Memory of Dien Bien), and VND21 billion now is equal to VND13 billion ten years ago. Actually, if we compare VND21 billion with what is spent on other movies, then it's not a very high figure at all. Besides, it's not good if audiences focus on the budget instead of watching a movie. I don't feel any pressure for receiving the funding, I just thought that I'd do my best to make the movie worth the money."

A scene in Living With History

He added that the film follows two story lines at once, starting with a group of young people who are ignorant about history but begin to understand more during the trip to Dien Bien. Alongside the modern timeline, the events of the battle at Dien Bien Phu unfold. The actors and actresses that make up the group of young people also play the main roles in the past.

"The director's emotions and feeling are the most important factor here. If the director is emotionless, the audience won't get any feeling from the film," he said.

Van went on to say that he did not pay too much attention to details, but focused on portraying to the audience the most well-known events of the battle. According to Van, while watching a movie, if an audience still has time to wonder about why this shoe looks so new or why that shoe is worn wrong instead of being immersed in the story then the director has not done his job.

"Maybe it's because I'm getting old, but I'm more emotional about this movie than usual. I'm quite nervous about how it will be received," he said.