Cinema
Mẹ vắng nhà
Nguyễn Khánh Dư · 1979
Synopsis
In the delta, a woman of the resistance sets off to carry rice and ammunition and leaves five children alone at home. The eldest is ten and plays the mother: she cooks, looks after the little ones, scolds them and comforts them. The others play, quarrel, fish, watch for the boat that will bring back the real one, and repeat among themselves what they have heard from the grown-ups. Nothing of the war appears: it is marked only by an empty place.
Context
The central character is absent for most of the film, which forced its director to have the story carried by five children, only one of whom had acted before. This is precisely what he is credited with: coming from cinematography, where he had spent twenty years, he knew how to draw naturalness from them. The film is based on two stories by Nguyễn Thi devoted to Út Tịch, a real fighter of the delta whose children existed.
Who it is for
In Vietnamese, subtitled. The war stays outside the frame and everything passes through the children; almost nothing happens in it.
Prizes and reception
Golden Lotus at the national festival in 1980, the same year as Cánh đồng hoang, and Crystal Vase at the Karlovy Vary festival.