National Assembly Delegate: 'Hope the audience supports films based on Vietnamese history'

National Assembly Delegate Bui Hoai Son hopes that the audience will support "Southern Forest Land" in particular and films exploiting Vietnamese historical materials in general.

During the National Assembly discussion session on October 24, Associate Professor, Dr. Bui Hoai Son - Standing Member of the National Assembly's Culture and Education Committee - talked about the issue of "cultural invasion", when many foreign literary and artistic products flooded into Vietnam, causing a part of the public to be fascinated with foreign history.

Many films, songs, and comics are not in line with the culture, moral values, and national traditions, forming unfamiliar perceptions, thoughts, and lifestyles. This can create the risk of forgetting history, making national culture become a pale copy of other cultures.

From this issue, National Assembly delegates hope that artists will have Vietnamese literary and artistic products, leading to confidence, national pride, and solid integration with the world .

The difficulties of filmmakers today are also mentioned. That is, balancing respect for history with artistic creation, to make history more attractive, closer, and more appealing to audiences. In addition, those in the creative field also have to balance public evaluation, with many conflicting opinions, especially on the vast cyberspace.

A civilized society is one that listens and creates a free corridor for culture and art. Artistic creations about history need to be viewed more openly, listened to more positively, and supported more. Only then will artists dare to sacrifice themselves for art, for the noble values of life.

Specifically mentioning the case of the film Southern Forest Land that has caused controversy recently, Mr. Bui Hoai Son said that this story is not limited to just one film, but more broadly the viewpoint and way of making films, developing the art market for the country. The National Assembly delegate pointed out the fact that domestic audiences can praise many Chinese and Korean historical films as attractive. But such films, if made in Vietnam, will certainly cause a lot of debate and will be difficult to escape public criticism.

National Assembly Delegate Bui Hoai Son - Photo: Quochoi.vn

Delegates hope that the recent debates will not discourage artists who are passionate about exploiting historical themes, causing them to no longer dare to make films that are important to the country.

"Exploiting that material helps us tell the history, beautiful images, and inspirational stories of Vietnam to domestic and international audiences, affirming the position and stature of the nation, forming soft power for the country. I also hope for the audience's support for the film Southern Forest Land in particular, Vietnamese cinema and art in general, especially literary and artistic works exploiting historical materials," Mr. Son stated his opinion.

The film Southern Forest Land was released in theaters on October 13 and was criticized for "distorting history". On October 16, the film was shown in an edited version, with the name of the Boxers changed to Southern Boxers and the Heaven and Earth Society to the Righteous Society in about three or four lines of dialogue. Experts said that the producer actively worked with the Cinema Department to review and correct controversial details.

The film is inspired by the novel by writer Doan Gioi and the film Dat Phuong Nam by director Nguyen Vinh Son. The story revolves around An (Hao Khang) - a boy lost in the West on his way to find his father, in the early 20th century. Director Quang Dung said he has completed the script for part two and is looking for a setting.

Hoang Ha (According to vnexpress.net)

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