“Red Rain” - the immortal echo of the 20s

The film opens with the sound of an orchestra and closes with the same sound: the “Red Rain” symphony by Vu Kien Cuong - the central character. A deliberate loop, as if to keep the memories of war in the music, so that the audience can calm down and reach the peak of emotions.

Director Dang Thai Huyen proved his sure hand in handling the big scenes: train stations, crowded evacuation routes, bombs and bullets falling, especially the fierce scenes in Quang Tri Citadel. It can be said that for the first time, a Vietnamese film has invested in both the setting and military equipment, to most realistically recreate the fierceness of the war. But if there were only big scenes, "Red Rain" would easily fall into dry drama.

The strength of female Army director Dang Thai Huyen since “Muoi banh nuoc” (2009), “Nguoi tro ve” (2015) is still the delicate, humane details, looking at war through the eyes of women, making emotions burst out naturally. When a rough squad leader like Ta, or the youngest brother Tu, or Cuong (the male lead) secretly shed tears among the artillery shells and mud and blood, the audience in the theater also cried for that tragic sacrifice, for the desire for peace and patriotic ideals of the untainted young generations and for their own youthful memories.

The love story of Cuong and the battlefield nurse, although symbolic, is very ordinary: There are smiles, small moments of happiness and tears. In the tragic background of war, those moments become emotional support, so that the pain does not turn into tragedy but still shines with human beauty and faith.

Cinematographer, People's Artist Ly Thai Dung is still a true master of images, he has contributed greatly to the soul of the work. The lighting and camera angles are both romantic and fierce, both fierce and fresh. Each frame reinforces the belief in the message that the script conveys: War is bombs, blood and mud, imminent death, but within it still burns optimism, hope and humanity.

The iconic and heart-wrenchingly beautiful scenes: Sen, who was shot, still tried to reach out to grab his comrades on the enemy's pyre; Sen, crazy, shirtless, dancing in the middle of artillery shells as a trick to fool the enemy; the scene where the squad bid farewell to Ta - the simple, generous and brave squad leader from Thanh Hoa on the Thach Han River; the farewell between Cuong and the nurse at the riverbank... The image of two mothers, although they had children on two fronts, now dropping flowers for their children on the Thach Han River, is the most haunting answer to the meaning of war.

The special point that makes “Red Rain” surpass previous Vietnamese war films is the final martial arts fight between Cuong and Quang, two soldiers from two fronts, but still maintaining the spirit of a gentleman. Quang is not turned into a one-sided villain, but a person with emotions, with love, who knows how to accept defeat. Thanks to that, the story does not fall into the win-lose formula, but evokes a deeper message: In war, the greatest pain is still the pain of losing children of Vietnamese mothers.

The film also cleverly inserts valuable metaphors: The nurse's handkerchief - a keepsake of love - becomes Cuong's last weapon in a life-and-death battle; or the scene where the soldiers release a small bird to freedom before leaving Quang Tri Citadel... Those details make the film linger, not only in terms of recounting a war but also in terms of its symbolic stature.

Thirteen years after “The Scent of Burning Grass” by director Nguyen Huu Muoi, Vietnamese audiences once again touched the memories of Quang Tri through cinema. “Red Rain” not only moved people by its meticulousness from setting to details, from script to staging, but more importantly: It touched the hearts of every Vietnamese person, including those born when the sound of gunfire had receded.

And when the last symphony ended, people realized: “Red Rain” is not just a movie. It is a memory, a farewell, an echo of immortal twenties.

According to People's Army

Source: https://baoangiang.com.vn/-mua-do-tieng-vong-tuoi-20-bat-tu-a427081.html