From: groucho!thinh@uu.psi.com (Thinh N. Nguyen)
Subject: [POL] DIALOG (DDie^.n Bie^n Phu?)
Originator: daemon@media-lab.media.mit.edu
Reply-To: groucho!thinh@uu.psi.com
Organization: SCV Relay
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 19:42:26 GMT


HI netters:

There were many good and bad points expressed over the subject of independent
of Vietnam. In trying not to confuse the issue even more, I will use the above two
excerps to say somthings:

>>  Well, history has a way of repeating itself. It was General Giap who led the
>>battle that expelled the French from VN, forever and ever, regaining the
>>nation's honors that had been sullied by a century of French exploitation. 
>>And you know who invited the American troops into SVN ! (Had President Kennedy 
>>not been assasinated, history might have been different !).

>Shoudl I add that it was general Gia'p with Chinese guns and ammunitions and
>Vietnamese bodies...? Frankly I admired the victory (currently a French movie
>is being made about this famous battle) but I wonder if HCM and his closest
>aids had all the sayings in the war as later proved by the signing of the
>Geneva accord.

This reponse from Cuong reminds me that last summer, while in Europe, I had the
great fortune to see two French movies about Vietnam that were excellent. They
are "L'Indochine" and "DDie^.n Bie^n Phu?" (this may be the one Cuong is talking
about). Holywood's Vietnam movies always disapointed me. They either so sad when
they tell truth stories ("Casualties of War") or comically stupid when they try
to feed the fantasies of shallow minded Americans ("Rambos" and all others). And
always the Vietnamese were portraited as, at best, a loyal sidekick or easy target
in fighting scences with no real human chacteristic at all. Vietnamese women are
ussually portrait as either exotic protitudes or simple minded girls and at the 
end falling madly in love with the American heros (this is a requirement for asian 
woman in Holywood movies).

These two movies were different. They are both well acted, filmed and made. They
are both long and beautifully filmed mostly on location in Vietnam. "L'Indochine" 
tell the story of a French/Vietnamese girl (Catherine Deneuve played her mother 
superbly) who went across northern Vietnam during the turbulant period in the
early 1950s to find her love. During the journey, she had gotten to know the 
people, the country and slowly being transformed from a naive, rich, privilege 
and love struck little girl into a real caring Vietnamese, a fugitive from the 
French government, and finally a Viet Minh leader... (I better stop here 
before I give the movie away). My favorite part of the movie is the cinematography. 
Most of the movie showed the beautifull landscape of the northern part of Vietnam 
(especially vi.nh Ha. Long) that I always dream of but never have a chance to see.

The second movie "DDie^.n Bie^n Phu?", as the title suggested, tell in a very 
grand, objective and moving fashion the famous battle of DDie^.n Bie^n Phu?. 
It's very well researched and made. I hope all the Vietnamese in the US (and every 
where else for that matter) will have a chance to see these two movies. It's the 
best movies about Vietnam I had ever seen in a long time.

I also have something I would like to say about the response paragraph. Of course,
the bodies were Vietnamese. Otherwise, the Chinese would claimed the victory a long time
ago. Growing up in S. Vietnam most of us were denied many truths about sensitive
subject like Vie^.t Minh, Ho^` chi' Minh and DDie^.n Bie^n Phu? just like our
counterparts in the North were denied the truth about freedom and democracy in the 
outside world. Both of these method only make Vietnamese ignorant. Books about these
topics that are allowed in S. Vietnam (not to mention our households) are very subjective
to the government agenda. We can now talk openly about these subjects. Let's use
it wisely. There are so many documentation available for us to study and make a better
conclusion. By debate about them on SCV, we can learn more about it from our peers.

DDie^.n Bie^n Phu? was a glorious victory not just for Vietnamese but for all
nations in the world that were suffered the atrocities of colonization. DDie^.n 
Bie^n Phu? showed them how vunerable the great French, Britain ... are. It showed
that a small, poor country with only the will of the people can defeat a mighty
nation at their own game. Everyone in the world but S. Vietnam give Vietnamese full 
credit for it but because of Vo? Nguye^n Gia'p and Vie^.t Minh I have heard many 
Vietnamese try very hard to suggest that the Chinese did all the works. The Geneva
conference was formed under the leadership of 4 big nations and the accord was 
signed by them because that the only way it can have the credential to be effective. 
If you have solid evidences to prove otherwise, I think to simply state that the 
Chinese made all the decisions is not a very good way to learn history.

I also see some netters suggested that because Ho^` chi' Minh had studied in 
France, China, Soviet ... his independence is questionable. If you really want
to show his faults, then do it with thoughts and good reasonings. Don't just say
it because someone taught you so. If you cannot do a simple task like finding
something bad to say about Ho^` chi' Minh convincely then how are you going to
convince me that you know any better than his followers.

sincerely,
Thi.nh ngo.c Nguye^~n