“The Fire of the Middle Line” is a 1961 Vietnamese war film, co-directed by Pham Van Khoa and Le Minh Hien, and filmed by Nguyen Hong Sen. The script was adapted by writer Van Dan from his short story of the same name, with actors Luu Xuan Thu, Ngoc Lan, Ngo Nam, and Ho Kieng.
The film tells the story of Dung, a platoon leader who has completed his combat mission excellently, but his superiors suddenly transfer him to support the civilian workers transporting ammunition. Dung accepts the mission, but always wishes to go to the front line. Here, Dung meets Nhan (played by People's Artist Ngoc Lan), a female civilian worker transporting ammunition full of enthusiasm but also extremely humorous and playful. The work is hard, but on her lips always appears an optimistic, life-loving smile. Once, while saving a burning ammunition depot, the character Nhan did not hesitate to rush into the sea of fire. This image makes the character Dung realize the things he has been looking for answers for a long time...
Throughout the development of Vietnamese revolutionary cinema, female characters are often associated with the image of resilience and hard work. However, with Nhan, the film “Fire in the Middle” brought a very different nuance, a female worker who is both innocent, playful, charming, sweet, and never loses her courage and bravery when facing danger.
Sharing memories about the movie "Fire in the Middle" and the role of Nhan that she played, People's Artist Ngoc Lan recalled that that year she was only 18 years old and had just entered school.
“There were several people auditioning for this role, not just me. The film crew brought my draft to Mr. To Huu to see. Mr. To Huu said this was the real Miss Nhan. I was so happy. From then on, I devoted myself to the role,” People’s Artist Ngoc Lan recalls the chance to play this special role.
To film the realistic scenes of carrying bullets, People's Artist Ngoc Lan revealed that at that time, the boxes of props were stacked with bricks inside, which was very heavy, so there were some incidents during filming. The box of bullets she was carrying hit a member of the film crew and injured him. That was a deep memory that she will never forget.
At the program, Meritorious Artist Vu Xuan Hung - son of Mr. Vu Nang An, director of the film "Fire in the Middle" shared that the role of Nhan - a role that is both genuine and lively, with such innocent and mischievous colors - is extremely rare in Vietnamese cinema at that time. The role of Nhan played by People's Artist Ngoc Lan is both natural and expressive, making the audience feel like the character came from real life and not just existed on the screen.
To make the film, the crew had to face many difficulties. The setting was chosen in the northern mountainous provinces, in harsh winter weather conditions. There were scenes where actors had to carry heavy boxes and wade through icy water when the temperature was only about 4-5 degrees Celsius. The crew even had to use high-powered water jets to create artificial rain, turning the scene into a real challenge for human endurance...
In “Cine7 – Memories of Vietnamese Films”, People’s Artist Ngoc Lan also shared many other special scenes in the film that she still remembers clearly. Also in the program, many stories behind the film were revealed.
The film “Fire in the Middle” won the Silver Lotus Award at the 2nd Vietnam Film Festival in 1973 and received a Certificate of Merit at the 2nd Moscow International Film Festival in 1961. It was this special international award that brought People’s Artist Ngoc Lan to Moscow (Russia). Here, she met People’s Artist Ngo Manh Lan - who was then an international student at VGIK University of Cinematography. By chance, he was assigned to be her interpreter during the trip.
They had never met before, but Ngo Manh Lan had a special affection for the character Nhan that Ngoc Lan portrayed on screen. The meeting in Moscow became the beginning of a beautiful love story, and later, they became husband and wife, closely attached for more than half a century.
More than 60 years have passed, "The Fire of the Middle" not only lives forever as a typical cinematic work, but also becomes a witness to a beautiful artistic love, originating from memories of war but crystallized in everyday happiness.
Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/nsnd-ngoc-lan-ke-ve-moi-duyen-dac-biet-voi-nsnd-ngo-manh-lan-tu-phim-lua-trung-tuyen-715900.html
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