“The Abandoned Field: Free Fire Zone" gathered the most excellent “personnel”, director Hong Sen, screenwriter Nguyen Quang Sang, actors Lam Toi, Thuy An, music by musician Trinh Cong Son... “The Abandoned Field: Free Fire Zone” was a rare Vietnamese film at that time to win the highest award at an international film festival, the film won the Special Prize of the International Federation of Cinema Journalists at the Moscow International Film Festival in 1980, won the Gold Medal - Moscow International Film Festival in 1981.
“The Abandoned Field: Free Fire Zone” was directed by Hong Sen on the background of the fields of Dong Thap Muoi region during the days of the struggle to liberate South Vietnam.
Ba Do and his wife and their young child live in a hut in the middle of a vast field of water. They are assigned to maintain the communication line for the army. The film is praised for its storytelling, both realistic and intimate, yet fierce and painful in the unequal war between a small family and an enemy equipped with sophisticated weapons.
“The Abandoned Field: Free Fire Zone” tells a story in three dimensions: on the field, under the water and in the sky. The tenacious struggle of Ba Do and his wife is portrayed realistically, intimately, but also romantically, creating classic footage that is both poetic and tragic.
“The Abandoned Field: Free Fire Zone” creates dramatic contrasts for an unequal war, the contrast between two fronts in the sky and under the water, the contrast between a force equipped with modern weapons and the other side with only a family of 2 spouses with small children, the contrast between the force of sweeping, fierce fighting and the side fighting quietly and stubbornly, the contrast is also shown between the sound of helicopters and the sound of children crying - that is the contrast in the purpose of the war between the two sides, one side shows off modern weapons to sweep, the other side simply wants to protect the family, homeland, country...
In the midst of those contrasts, in the three dimensions of the fierce war, is the beautiful, feminine and hard-working image of Sau Xoa - Ba Do's wife on the wild field.
The image of Sau Xoa is iconic with major changes in emotions, thoughts, and actions from the beginning to the end of the film.
Sau Xoa, played by Thuy An, has many close-up camera angles that depict her gentle, feminine beauty, yet stands out splendidly in the midst of a vast field of water. Thuy An was chosen for this role because her beauty fully embodies the beauty of women from the Southwest.
In the first scenes of the film, Sau Xoa is beautiful, her smile shining as a wife and mother. The love between Sau Xoa and Ba Do is expressed gently, simply but full of emotion. The way they worry about each other, protect each other, watch each other in the fields, against the fierce attack of enemy helicopters, the way they look at each other, turn towards each other... makes each scene of the film beautiful and tragic.
Sau Xoa's emotions, thoughts, and actions are closely linked to her husband and children. The gentle wife and hard-working mother had a major psychological turning point when Ba Do sacrificed himself. From a gentle woman who loved flowers at the beginning of the film, Sau Xoa becomes a woman holding a gun at the end of the film.
Sau Xoa is a symbolic character of the generation of women who were pushed into the war. They thought of simple and ordinary happiness, but the war forced them to take up arms and fight for their families and for their loved ones who had fallen behind.
Thuy An's beauty in the character Sau Xoa represents the beauty of an entire generation of Vietnamese women during the war.
Critic Le Hong Lam wrote, "The Abandoned Field: Free Fire Zone" has shown almost perfect beauty from the screenwriter to the director, from the cinematography to the music, and most especially the acting with two former movie stars: Lam Toi and Thuy An.
They represent a generation of the most beautiful filmmakers of Vietnamese cinema".
