Mui co chay

The story of four patriotic Vietnamese boys who join the North Vietnamese army in their fight to liberate South Vietnam.

Not quite a propaganda film though it stands in stark contrast to the American perspective on display in most Vietnam war films.

The film combines romance, nationalism and even attempts humor. It does provide insights into the war but mostly focuses on the personal stories.

Filmed in 2012, the movie comes across as a simplistic 1970s war drama, almost amateurish in parts. Nonetheless, the film is a worthy attempt at showing the Vietnam war in a light often missed by most.

The battle of Quang Tri in 1972 was hell, and this film doesn't pretend otherwise. It doesn't glorify anything or romanticize war - it just shows a group of young guys, thrown into the chaos, terrified, trying to survive. They're not heroes, they're just kids stuck in a nightmare they can't escape from.

It's not loud or over the top. It doesn't rely on big dramatic moments to make its point. It's slow, subtle, and it sinks in. You can feel the weight of the fear, the pressure of it all, and the sheer feeling of being way too young to carry that kind of burden. Watching it, I ended up relating more than I expected. It's like you don't have to have lived it to understand the weight they were carrying.

This film messed me up a little. Not in the usual "sad" way, but in a quiet, lingering way that won't go away easily. It'll sit with me for a while.

This film begins with four North Vietnamese college students preparing to join the war effort and liberate those in South Vietnam from what they consider to be the "American invaders." For his part, one of these young soldiers named "Long" (Nguyen Thanh Son) has just learned that his parents are going to get divorced and becomes quite emotional about it. His spirits are lifted, however, when he meets a beautiful young woman who promises to wait for him when his tour of duty is finished. Similarly, the other three young soldiers are heartbroken to some degree because they must also leave their families. Be that as it may, after some hurried goodbyes, they quickly board a truck that transports them south along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, where they encounter the enemy and come face to face with death and destruction all around them. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that what I found remarkable about this film is that, instead of glorifying the war, it showcases it in human terms, with one young soldier named "Long" (Nguyen Thanh Son) and another named "Hoang" (Nang Tung Nguyen) being particularly highlighted. Admittedly, other pictures have also captured this sentiment, with the 1930 film "All Quiet on the Western Front" being one of the better ones in that regard. But even so, this film still impressed me to a certain degree, and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.