The first thing I must affirm is that feature film scripts can never keep up with reality, even if that reality is in the past.
However, we have the advisory board of the Ministry of Public Security as well as all forces of the security bloc and professional bloc that have advised, helped and supported from beginning to end. Without them, we could not complete this work.
I myself don't think about the stress when making this film, I will use the word "challenge".
So what are the biggest challenges that you and the film crew have to face on set?
- The biggest challenge for me is the weather, daily travel distance and the health of all film crew members. I want to thank the film crew and my cast, they are extremely excellent people. If it were just me, I wouldn't be able to make a film.
I would like to share a little memory that sometimes for a whole week I only ate one meal a day because I was too tired. Sitting on the mountaintop at 1 pm, in such hot weather, I couldn't eat.
In addition, our lunch box was not normal at all, it was transported through a distance of about 42 kilometers to reach the filming location. Saying this is not to complain to the film crew, but because only by going to reality like this do we know that the security soldiers are too hard.
The film crew only operates for a few months, and the brothers and sisters here have to live and work for years, sometimes a lifetime of dedication.
The movie "The Blue Plateau" is an emotional journey but also full of harsh challenges from nature.
We started filming in the scorching sun of the plateau, and now we have to face the peak of the rainy season again. For any film crew, the biggest fear is prolonged rains. Rain not only disrupts the entire schedule, seriously affecting the progress of work, but also has to protect the volume of modern, expensive filming equipment and machinery. Just a little carelessness due to humidity, the consequences will be very unpredictable...
If there was a word to summarize the spirit of the whole crew during the filming process, what would you choose? What are you still regretting after the film is completed?
- The word I want to say about the film crew members when making this work is "consensus". Without that consensus, we certainly could not overcome the challenges in the past few months. Not only the film crew, I think consensus is needed for everything.
And the thing I regret most is that if only we had more time and health. If we had more time and health, I could bring to the audience the image of security officers in a more realistic way, so that the audience would know and understand them better.
What is the difference between this film and other crime and crime films?
- In the film, there will be no chases, shooting scenes or direct battles. As I shared with actors like Ha Viet Dung, Xuan Phuc, the first security soldier must be someone who grasps the situation very firmly, knows how to analyze and evaluate to prevent passive and unexpected situations from happening. Actors must grasp that, not indulge in chases like criminal films.
Here, it is not simply a direct confrontation between the police and criminals, but also the bond between the army and the people, taking the people as the root.
The first time we approached this topic, our biggest challenge was how to convey it to the screen in the most realistic way. To transform those things into real action on screen, we needed a lot of time and experience for the audience to truly understand the portrait and work of security officers.
