Indochine

A beautiful film about the latter years of the French colonial era in Vietnam. I notice some comments that seem confused about Deneuve's characters attitude toward the Vietnamese on her rubber plantation. They find her "maternalism" offensive and therefore? what, they don't like the film? What do they expect from a colonialist? Compare this to Mel Gibson's character in The Patriot, a slave owner who has released all his slaves (1700s) and re-hired them. Is this more believable? More comfortable?

The French exploited the natural resources and the population of Vietnam; that's what colonialism was all about, and I don't see that this film is even faintly supportive of colonialism. On the contrary, Indochine offers some clarity about what the Vietnamese were rebelling against, and background for the conflict that would later pull in the US.

And a gorgeous, gorgeous movie.

I thought it was good, if over-long. I've been reading the comments and people saying things about Indochine's realism. From what I can understand from my family (who are all half-French, half-Vietnamese, and who left Vietnam pretty much at the time the film wraps up), the sense you get of Eliane "being in charge" of the Vietnamese, and the failure to look at things from the viewpoint of the Vietnamese themselves, but only from the French perspective, is pretty accurate.

Society was essentially segregated in Saigon / Indochina. One member of my family told me a story about how they left the French "compound" in Saigon one day with their mother and - for the first time - saw the real Vietnamese people, in tattered clothes... Cue "why are they in rags, mummy?" "because that's the way most people live."

So, as I see it at least, I wouldn't criticise this film for the sense you get of the French being oblivious to the reality of their existence in Indochina. That's the way it was. That's the way most colonies were, in fact (think Shanghai). And I think that's the masterstroke of this film: that people lived their lives without ever thinking about the broader impact of what was going on, until everything just fell to pieces around their ears.

I was never aware of this film, perhaps because I was not of the appropriate age to appreciate, but I must say, about thirteen years after its theatrical release, I was quite pleased with it on every level. Not only were the locations appropriately beautiful, and the cinematography mature and relaxed, but the acting, casting, plot development, and dialogue were in beautiful harmony. The film was a fantastic lesson in history to which Vietnam and the rest of us are owed. To satisfy length requirements for my comments, I will add, that this crew did not shy away from showing characters who experience anger, insult, jealousy, pain and all the rest with true precision. It is nice to see fine acting and depth with appropriate casting. I recommend this film to anyone who wants to see color and who can read subtitles. I would also recommend that this film be viewed in two or three sittings. I did this because of disruptions, but actually, this respite added to the inherent suspense of each characters' fate and made the film easier to digest on a whole. Nonetheless, you will find, that the film flows and throws in excitement just where it is needed.

If we think about movies that deal with the recent past of Vietnam, then everybody immediately thinks of war movies like for instance, Platoon, Apocalypse Now, The Deer Hunter... But why is that? I know how important this war was for the Americans as well as for the Vietnamese, but this is an old country with an ancient culture that has a lot more to offer than the battles, bombs and booby traps in the jungle, the rice fields or the cities. "Indochine" is a movie that tries to show us another part of the country's history. It deals with the latest years of French colonial times in Vietnam or Indochine as they called it back then.

The story starts in the 1930's at one of the largest rubber-tree plantations in Indochine (Vietnam). This plantation is owned by the French colonist Eliane, a proud woman who lives with her father and her native adoptive daughter Camille. She doesn't have a husband or a man in her life (apart from her father), but gets to know the young officer Jean-Baptiste when both want to buy the same painting at an auction. They have a short affair, but than she refuses to see him again. In the meantime it's Camille who has fallen in love with Jean-Baptiste and Eliane knows it. She makes sure he's send to one of the most desolate outposts on some remote island, making sure that the two will never see each other again. Camille has no choice, but to marry the man she was promised to, but in the meantime she starts a search to find the man she really loves.

This could have been a romantic movie in a different setting than we are used to, but nevertheless one like we have seen many more before. And in a way it is, but the movie has a lot more to offer as well. It shows the atrocities committed by the French, the great poverty of the indigenous people, the rise of Communism and the futile attempts to stop them (before the French got involved in the war that would later be continued by the Americans). This movie is a lesson in history and geography wrapped in a paper of romance and marvelous landscapes. It was beautiful and dramatic at the same time. I was touched and amazed by it and really liked it a lot. That's why I give this movie at least an 8/10.

OK let's get it out of the way up front, Eliane IS France, Camille IS Vietnam the story is their story. Of course it is told from the French viewpoint, France is telling the story about her child growing up. It is a sad story, the French lost. It was not a happy story for the Vietnamese they had to fight for 2 more years to be reunited and struggle for 15 more to start to come out of the whole process. That said this is one of the most beautiful movies ever made, period.

The intricate ballet of personal dealings and politics is carried out so well that one can easily get lost in the levels, just as one can get lost in the intricate dance that is life in Asia. What you see is what you see, it may be more or less depending.

I do not believe that the movie defends France not does it condemn her. That part of the story is wisely left alone, what remains is a human drama of the folly of resisting the inevitability of change. As the film unfolds the sheer weight of history comes down on all involved.

It is that weight that brings the tears. From the time that Jean-Baptiste is brought to Saigon to the closing credits, there is no escape for anyone. The old order is out the new is awaiting its time of entry upon the stage. It is a time for tears, a time to mourn and ultimately a time to heal.

Americans in particular have a funny sense of history. We forget that others have been down the same roads before us. France's relationship with vietnam was most likely more of a force in the history of its people than ours with all of our napalm will ever be, because the French left a legacy of life that could be seen even in the senslessness of the American presence.

This movie captures that relationship and transcends it. Masterpiece is the lest one can say about such a work.