Gardien de buffles

I'm so what not a casual film watcher, meaning movie like spider-man or superman or x-man or maybe even Titanic doesn't really score much of impression to me.

This movie, is a somewhat similar to the movie "Legend of the fall" (but of course not that close, but that's the style). The technique of the movie is kind of similar to Green Papaya or "Vertical ray of sun", but it's more on the rural side, more mainstream (a favorite struggle story) rather than a contemporary city life.

And yet, this is one of the rarest Vietnamese movie that truly depict what is the society / life look like in 1930, in its fully details.

The film, Buffalo Boy, was first aired in 2004 and was produced by Jean Brehat and directed by Nguyen Vo Nghiem Minh. It was filmed in Ca Mau Province, Vietnam, and took place during the French occupation of Vietnam in the 1940s. It won the Vietnamese Golden Kite Award for Best Foreign Collaboration Feature Film and Vietnam Film Festival Award for Best Feature Film (Silver Lotus Award). It also won the director, Nguyen Vo Nghiem Minh, the Vietnam Film Festival Award for Best Director. The main character is an elderly man named Kim as he reflects on his past and tells his granddaughter his story. In his story, we follow his 15 year old self who seems very hardworking despite some questionable acts he chose to undertake in his life. We can see that he values family and believes in the importance of family through his retelling of his story to his granddaughter and the acceptance of Thieu into his makeshift family when Thieu's mother asked. As stated above, the story follows Kim, as he tells his granddaughter stories from his past after she finds her father's bones. The scene then changes to Kim's perspective as we follow 15 year old Kim as he makes the trek inland with his two buffalo to find food for and protect during the flood season. Once he returns, he starts his own business with help of his new friend Det. However, after some time he sets out on another journey to find his missing father where he discovers a hidden and dark secret about his family. Kim is forced to confront this truth and just when he thought he could move on he makes a decision that brings him to where he is now with a makeshift family of his own. The theme of family is heavy in this movie and is a good movie for anyone who wants to take a look into what Vietnamese culture was during the 1940s. Especially in the fact that this whole movie is him telling his granddaughter his story so that she can be able to understand the significance of the bones that she had found as well as understand the life that her great grandfather and grandfather had lived. I would recommend this movie to anyone interested in understanding more about the culture of Southeast Asia and Vietnam specifically.

Lyrical, beautifully filmed story of the difficult lives of poor rice farmers in the Mekong Delta flood plain in the years immediately preceding the Japanese occupation of WW II. Kim (The Lu Le) is a young man who must take on extra responsibilities when his father grows too ill to work.

The immediate problem is getting the family's two water buffalo to higher ground so they will have grass to eat, as the entire area surrounding their farm is experiencing one of the worst flood seasons in years and the animals are at risk for starving to death. Kim throws in with the notorious Lap and his "gang" – buffalo herders who move many animals each year for all the farmers in the area, for a hefty fee.

The film features buffalo drives, gang rivalries and warfare, drunken, cannabis laced parties, raped women, love, honor and duty to one's family. But the most vivid theme depicted here is the very hard life lived by people entirely at the mercy of the river.

Many important themes are expressed with subtlety, lightly touched upon. For example, we see evidence of the admixture of Catholicism and Buddhism, when one character or another makes simple reference to "God and Buddha" in everyday conversation. The heavy hand of the French colonizers is discerned just once, when a boatload of armed, uniformed officers comes around to check on tax matters. As Kim digs a grave for an old woman, we see in the background a procession of men pass by. Those in the front and rear wear caps with sun protective cloth at the back: the classic caps of Japanese soldiers. The others are French. It's the only reference to the occupation.

We gain insight into problems unique to this culture. We learn of the precious value of the water buffalo, without which spring tilling for rice cannot be accomplished. The problem of disposing properly of bodies of the dead during flood season is confronted at length. We get a sense of the pervasiveness and power of the delta floods through underwater scenes that show us vague forms of dead humans and swimming water buffalo, among other sights.

The music is sporadic and spare, hauntingly gorgeous. Flute playing and group singing by intoxicated gang members are delightful surprises. This film is part of the Global Lens 2005 series. It deserves far wider screening. (In Vietnamese) Grade: 8.5/10 (A-). (Seen on 04/14/05). If you'd like to read more of my reviews, send me a message for directions to my websites.

Set in Southern Vietnam in the 1940's, Buffalo Boy is an elegant film that highlights the struggles of living in always flooded, rural Vietnam. Kim, a teenage boy, lives with his impoverished parents, but is religious, extremely kind and well-meaning. His life is changed forever one flood season when he is forced to learn the buffalo herding profession to protect his families' well being. Soon thereafter, the poverty his family lives in becomes too much to handle and his parents move away. Kim is then left to fend for himself and choose his livelihood. Throughout this film we watch Kim grow and assume many characteristics of the corrupt people he's working with, such as treating women more poorly. We see this theme of the internal struggle between his new way of life and his old morals throughout the story. Distributed by Global Lens Initiative and directed by Nguyen Vo Nghiem Minh, this artistic display of Vietnam poverty is perfect for anyone interested in the history of Southeast Asia or someone who just wants to know more about the area. Although the story can be slow developing, the lessons it teaches about Vietnamese culture at this time are valuable and the graceful nature of the film is undeniable. The film was also Vietnam's entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 78th Academy Awards.

I saw this movie in a small theater in Paris in presence of the Director. What surprised me most at the beginning was the violation of basic rules such as framings that were not what we're usually used to. But you know the rule, better know it before you break it! So the result is visually quite pleasing. As for the story, that is quite dark, I remember the underwater scenes with skeletons that are focus point of the whole story: as far as I remember, the whole story is spinning about how fragile our existence maybe and how straight one can become when being in such conditions. I mean the main character is about to perform rape but would you blame him? Yes, of course. I've been a couple of months in Vietnam, but not in that special place. Next time I hope. I hope the director will still be shooting so that we can watch a movie that flavors the very feel of that Country and its people.

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