MANILA, Philippines?My trip to Vietnam last week with my brother, Divino, made me realize I knew little about the easternmost nation on the Indochina peninsula. With a population of approximately 86 million, it is the 13th most populous country in the world. (Interestingly, the Philippines is in 12th place, with 90 million.)
Of course, we flew to its largest city, Saigon aka Ho Chi Minh, knowing that its war-ravaged people had inspired the story of ?Miss Saigon,? the popular stage musical that paved the way for many Filipino performers to the world of musical theater. But, we soon discovered that there was more to Saigon, Hanoi, Danang and Tay Ninh than tragic heroines and those omnipresent cyclos and motorbikes:
We crawled inside the Viet Cong?s cu chi underground tunnels, walked alongside affable elephants at the 40-hectare Dam Sen Park, fought back tears at the War Remnants Museum, and witnessed the colorful Tay Ninh ritual of the syncretist, monotheistic religion, Cao Di, whose saints include Chinese revolutionary Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, Vietnamese poet Nguyen Binh Khim, and?would you believe??French novelist Victor Hugo (?Les Miserables?)!
Top picks
The trip also boosted our interest in Vietnam music and cinema, as well as those of its Southeast Asian neighbors in Indochina: Laos, Cambodia and Burma. We watched local movies and purchased DVDs of the region?s most important films. Our top picks:
Laos? ?Good Morning, Luang Prabang? is a light romance about a photographer (played by Thai superstar, Ananda Everingham), an Australian-Laotian-Thai mestizo, who finds love when he meets his bumbling Laotian tour guide (Khamlek Pallawong). Directed by Sakchai Deenan and Anousone Sirisackda, the movie, which features picture-perfect tourist destinations, is Laos? first privately funded film since the Communist Revolution in 1975, and is only the fourth full-length feature made in that country.
Cambodia?s searing Cannes entry, Rithy Panh?s ?Rice People,? is about a very poor family that ekes out a living by growing rice in a small village on the Mekong Delta.
Three sisters
Surprisingly, Vietnam has its fair share of award-winning films and festival favorites: Most memorable are Luu Huynh?s ?The White Silk Dress,? about the love story of a hunchback and a beautiful servant, and Ham Tran?s gut-wrenching 24-minute short, ?The Anniversary,? about a monk who?s haunted by memories of war and betrayal on the anniversary of his brother?s death.
The oeuvre of Anh Hung Tran?who visited the Philippines last year to shoot the Josh Hartnett starrer, ?I Come With The Rain??is also noteworthy: The Venice festival-winning ?Cyclo? shows how the life of a pedicab driver changes after he is introduced to the criminal underworld; ?The Vertical Ray of the Sun? follows three sisters and the men in their lives, and the Oscar-nominated ?Scent of Green Papaya? tells the story of a servant who later meets the man of her dreams.
Search
Also worth mentioning are Quang Hai Ngo?s ?The Story of Pao,? about a Hmong maiden?s search for her biological mother, and Chuyen Bui Thac?s ?Living in Fear,? about a former soldier who turns to clearing landmines to support his two wives.
We also got a copy of Nhat Minh Dang?s ?Love Doesn?t Come Back (When the Tenth Month Comes),? about a widow who conceals the news of her soldier-husband?s death by asking a teacher to write fake letters to her in-laws, which was recently declared one of CNN?s ?Best Asian Films of All Time.?
Other notable titles on CNN?s list included Wong Kar-Wai?s ?In the Mood for Love,? Akira Kurosawa?s ?Ikiru,? Mohsen Makhmalbaf?s ?Gabbeh,? Andrew Lau and Alan Mak?s ?Infernal Affairs,? Joon-Ho Bong?s ?The Host,? Zhang Yimou?s ?To Live,? Apichatpong Weerase-
thakul?s ?Syndromes And A Century,? and Ishmael Bernal?s ?Himala,? which topped the list!
