New attraction of historical films
Notably, "Red Land" by director Le Van Kiet, recreates the life of female hero Vo Thi Sau with a more realistic perspective, focusing on youth, loss and the journey of maturity in the war. The director's success with commercial films like "Hai Phuong" choosing revolutionary themes shows the new attraction of this film genre.
In addition, "Fire Sky" by director Le Thanh Son is considered the first Vietnamese film project to exploit the theme of the air force on a large scale, inspired by the life of heroic pilot Nguyen Thanh Trung. The film not only recreates the bombing of Independence Palace in 1975 but also aims at large air battle scenes rarely seen on Vietnamese screens.
Indochinese Code" opens a new direction for the intelligence film genre when telling the story of war as an intellectual battle between political forces in Indochina in the 1960s. The participation of Quang Tuan, Ninh Duong Lan Ngoc, Doan Quoc Dam shows efforts to bring the revolutionary theme closer to the general public.
At the same time, "Saigon Female Commando" by director Ham Tran attracted attention when combining action, intelligence and family melodrama. The film is set in Saigon in the 1970s, revolving around two biological sisters on two opposing fronts, creating a cinematic motif and easier to approach than traditional historical narration.
Another project that is also expected is "Cận kề cái chết" by director Bui Thac Chuyen. After the resounding success of "Địa đạo: Mặt trời trong bóng tối", the director continues to exploit the war theme with the story of escaping from Phu Quoc prison, which is considered the "hell on earth" during the anti-American resistance war.
The common point of these projects is that they no longer tell history in an illustrative or slogan style, but focus on human fate, survival factors, intelligence, psychology and action to increase box office attraction.
When revolutionary films are no longer a "political task
The return of revolutionary films comes not only from historical factors or major holidays, but also shows a change in the way films are made.
If in the past many war films had modest revenue due to lack of modern rhythm, making it difficult to attract young audiences, now directors understand that historical films must also be as attractive as commercial films to attract audiences to theaters.
Air Battle" is a clear example. The film is inspired by real hijacking cases after 1975 but is told in modern action language, fast pace and Hollywood-colored editing techniques. The film's success of more than 250 billion VND has proven that audiences are willing to spend money on historical topics if the work is attractive enough.
Previously, "Địa đạo: Mặt trời trong bóng tối" also created a big boost when it achieved revenue of more than 170 billion VND. This success almost broke the prejudice that Vietnamese war films cannot win big in theaters.
Another important factor is the strong participation of the private sector. If revolutionary films previously mainly depended on the State budget, now many commercial film studios have seen the revenue potential of this topic. The participation of Galaxy Studio, Bluebells Studio or major private studios shows that historical films are being seen as a new "gold mine" of Vietnamese cinema.
It is not difficult to recognize that the current market context also creates conditions for revolutionary films to take the throne. After many years of booming comedy, horror and family films, audiences are starting to have a need to find larger stories, richer in national emotions. In particular, the period 2026 - 2027 is associated with many important historical milestones, creating favorable opportunities for historical projects to be launched simultaneously.
However, the challenges for this film genre are still very large. Historical themes always require high funding, complex settings and the pressure of realistic reproduction. "Fire Sky" alone has to consider building a large-scale air battle scene using VFX, while "The Indochinese Code" must restore Saigon and Indochina in the 1960s. More importantly, audiences today are no longer easily convinced by slogans or mere nostalgia.
