Dien Bien Phu (film)
Encyclopedia
Diên Biên Phu is a 1992 film
written and directed by French veteran Pierre Schoendoerffer
. With its huge budget, all-star cast, and realistic war scenes produced with the cooperation of the French and Vietnamese armies, Dîen Bîen Phu is regarded by many as one of the more important war movies produced in French filmmaking
history. It portrays the 55-day siege of Dien Bien Phu
(1954), the last battle by the French Union's colonial army in the First Indochina War
during the final days of French Indochina
, which was soon after divided into North
and South Vietnam
. This was a prelude to the Second Indochina War, known in the United States as the Vietnam War
.
The film was nominated for "Best Music Written for a Film" ("Meilleure musique") at the 1993 French César Awards. The Điện Biên Phủ original soundtrack
was composed and partially performed by pianist Georges Delerue
, featuring Japanese vocalist Marie Kobayashi. In 1994, at a commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the siege at Dien Bien Phu, director Schoendoerffer published a behind-the-scenes book called "Diên Biên Phu - De la Bataille au Film" (Dien Bien Phu: From the Battle to the Movie). In 2004, during the 50th anniversary commemoration, Schoendoerffer published a full-length version of his movie in DVD format.
, while others are reported by civilians at Hanoi
city or by paratroopers at Hanoi
's civilian airport.
The Hanoi action is mostly focused on British-born American writer-reporter Howard Simpson (Donald Pleasence
). Simpson's sources of confidential information include French Union military men (Patrick Catalifo, Eric Do), an Agence France Presse correspondent (Jean-François Balmer
), an influential Vietnamese nationalist (Long Nguyen-Khac), a Chinese contrabander (Thé Anh) and a Eurasian opium dealer (Maïté Nahyr). Simpson sends scoop-worthy news to the San Francisco Chronicle
daily newspaper, through a Hong Kong
-based agency, in order to elude French military censorship that existed at the time in Hanoi and the rest of Indochina.
War scenes are seen through the eyes of several character archetype
s illustrating human nature
. At Dien Bien Phu, there were two kinds of men: the cowards and the brave. The first are mainly illustrated by the unnamed "Nam Yum rat" (Fathy Abdi); an example of the second type is the philosopher-friendly artillery Lieutenant (Maxime Leroux), who refuses to obey orders to retreat and eventually dies for the sake of honor. Since they are archetypes, these characters have no name. The main characters have fictitious names, but are members of real units, like the 5th Bawouan Vietnamese para Lieutenant Ky (Eric Do) or Captain de Kerveguen (Patrick Catalifo)'s Foreign Legion company.
Schoendoerffer's movie contains autobiographic elements that sometimes appear in dialogues and is particularly illustrated by the military cameraman character. Actor Ludovic Schoendoerffer plays the role of a young Army Cinematographic Service cameraman using the same camera type as his father, Corporal Pierre Schoendoerffer, did in 1954.
based on real events, in the style of Tora! Tora! Tora!
. Writer/director Pierre Schoendoerffer is a veteran of the battle; in 1952, volunteer Corporal Schoendoerffer joined the Service Cinématographique des Armées (French Army Cinematographic Service) as a cameraman.
On 11 March 1954, Schoendoerffer was injured at Dien Bien Phu, in a minor skirmish (coast 781 attack) before the main battle, and he was sent to the southern base located in Saigon aboard a C-47 transport plane
. Since there were no other cameramen remaining on the battlefield, Schoendoerffer insisted on returning to document the event. Finally, on March 18, he was allowed to take off from the northern base Hanoi
, located at 1H15 (252 km) from Dien Bien Phu, on a C-47 and to jump with the 5th Bawouan (Vietnamese Parachute Battalion) over Dien Bien Phu.
Schoendoerffer was still injured and wore bandages when he chose to return to the battlefield. Officers told him "it's wasted, don't go!" ("c'est foutu, n'y va pas!"), but he insisted as "[he] had to be there to testify" as he planned to give his film to the pilots, after the battle, as an homage. However, nobody saw this footage since he destroyed his own camera and all his 60-second-films on May 7, except for six of them which were confiscated by the Viet Minh during an aborted jailbreak and ended up in the hands of Soviet cameraman Roman Karmen
. As a 25-year-old corporal cameraman, Schoendoerffer was not actually a journalist, but the French Army did not interfere and let him shoot everything he wanted. His films were supposed to be sent to the rear on March 28, using a C-47 belonging to a military nurse named Geneviève de Galard
, but the C-47 was damaged beyond repair by Viet Minh artillery that hit the Red Cross aircraft.
Schoendoerffer used a Bell & Howell 35mm black-and-white
camera with three telephoto lenses mounted on a turret. This model is known for its highly flammable film but also for "its remarkable black and grey picture quality never seen again since" dixit Pierre Schoendoerffer.
On May 7, 1954, at 6 p.m., a half hour after the French ceasefire (except for the strongpoint Isabelle still fighting until May 8 1:00 a.m.) he was ordered to get out of his Parachute Commandment blockhouse, where he was waiting with the officers Bigeard and Langlais and the military nurse Geneviève de Galard and subsequently became a Viet Minh POW.
Once free, he became a war reporter-photographer for American magazines. In 1967, his Vietnam War black-and-white documentary, The Anderson Platoon
(La Section Anderson), won an Academy Award for Documentary Feature
. Later Schoendoerffer was named Vice-President of the French Académie des Beaux Arts (Academy of Fine Arts).
1992 in film
The year 1992 in film involved many significant films. -Top grossing films:-Awards:Academy AwardsGolden Globe AwardsNational Film Awards...
written and directed by French veteran Pierre Schoendoerffer
Pierre Schoendoerffer
Pierre Schoendoerffer is a French film director, a screenwriter, a writer, a war reporter, a war cameraman, a renowned First Indochina War veteran, a cinema academician and since 2001 the President of the Académie des Beaux-Arts.-Family:...
. With its huge budget, all-star cast, and realistic war scenes produced with the cooperation of the French and Vietnamese armies, Dîen Bîen Phu is regarded by many as one of the more important war movies produced in French filmmaking
Cinema of France
The Cinema of France comprises the art of film and creative movies made within the nation of France or by French filmmakers abroad.France is the birthplace of cinema and was responsible for many of its early significant contributions. Several important cinematic movements, including the Nouvelle...
history. It portrays the 55-day siege of Dien Bien Phu
Battle of Dien Bien Phu
The Battle of Dien Bien Phu was the climactic confrontation of the First Indochina War between the French Union's French Far East Expeditionary Corps and Viet Minh communist revolutionaries. The battle occurred between March and May 1954 and culminated in a comprehensive French defeat that...
(1954), the last battle by the French Union's colonial army in the First Indochina War
First Indochina War
The First Indochina War was fought in French Indochina from December 19, 1946, until August 1, 1954, between the French Union's French Far East...
during the final days of French Indochina
French Indochina
French Indochina was part of the French colonial empire in southeast Asia. A federation of the three Vietnamese regions, Tonkin , Annam , and Cochinchina , as well as Cambodia, was formed in 1887....
, which was soon after divided into North
North Vietnam
The Democratic Republic of Vietnam , was a communist state that ruled the northern half of Vietnam from 1954 until 1976 following the Geneva Conference and laid claim to all of Vietnam from 1945 to 1954 during the First Indochina War, during which they controlled pockets of territory throughout...
and South Vietnam
South Vietnam
South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
. This was a prelude to the Second Indochina War, known in the United States as the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
.
The film was nominated for "Best Music Written for a Film" ("Meilleure musique") at the 1993 French César Awards. The Điện Biên Phủ original soundtrack
Diên Biên Phu (soundtrack)
Điện Biên Phủ Bande Originale du Film is based on the war docudrama by Pierre Schoendoerffer released in theaters on 1992....
was composed and partially performed by pianist Georges Delerue
Georges Delerue
Georges Delerue , was a French film composer who composed over 350 scores for cinema and television. He won numerous important awards including Rome Prize , Emmy Award , Genie Award , ACE Award and Academy Award for Best Original Score in 1979 for A...
, featuring Japanese vocalist Marie Kobayashi. In 1994, at a commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the siege at Dien Bien Phu, director Schoendoerffer published a behind-the-scenes book called "Diên Biên Phu - De la Bataille au Film" (Dien Bien Phu: From the Battle to the Movie). In 2004, during the 50th anniversary commemoration, Schoendoerffer published a full-length version of his movie in DVD format.
Plot
The movie follows the chronological events of the battle. Some of them are shown in situ, from the heart of the battle, at Dien Bien PhuDien Bien Phu
Điện Biên Phủ is a city in northwestern Vietnam. It is the capital of Dien Bien province, and is known for the events there during the First Indochina War, the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, during which the region was a breadbasket for the Việt Minh.-Population:...
, while others are reported by civilians at Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
city or by paratroopers at Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
's civilian airport.
The Hanoi action is mostly focused on British-born American writer-reporter Howard Simpson (Donald Pleasence
Donald Pleasence
Sir Donald Henry Pleasence, OBE, was a British actor who gained more than 200 screen credits during a career which spanned over four decades...
). Simpson's sources of confidential information include French Union military men (Patrick Catalifo, Eric Do), an Agence France Presse correspondent (Jean-François Balmer
Jean-François Balmer
Jean-François Balmer is a Swiss actor. He has worked extensively in French cinema, television and stage productions since the early 1970s.-Selected filmography:* Little Marcel * La Menace...
), an influential Vietnamese nationalist (Long Nguyen-Khac), a Chinese contrabander (Thé Anh) and a Eurasian opium dealer (Maïté Nahyr). Simpson sends scoop-worthy news to the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
daily newspaper, through a Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
-based agency, in order to elude French military censorship that existed at the time in Hanoi and the rest of Indochina.
War scenes are seen through the eyes of several character archetype
Archetype
An archetype is a universally understood symbol or term or pattern of behavior, a prototype upon which others are copied, patterned, or emulated...
s illustrating human nature
Human nature
Human nature refers to the distinguishing characteristics, including ways of thinking, feeling and acting, that humans tend to have naturally....
. At Dien Bien Phu, there were two kinds of men: the cowards and the brave. The first are mainly illustrated by the unnamed "Nam Yum rat" (Fathy Abdi); an example of the second type is the philosopher-friendly artillery Lieutenant (Maxime Leroux), who refuses to obey orders to retreat and eventually dies for the sake of honor. Since they are archetypes, these characters have no name. The main characters have fictitious names, but are members of real units, like the 5th Bawouan Vietnamese para Lieutenant Ky (Eric Do) or Captain de Kerveguen (Patrick Catalifo)'s Foreign Legion company.
Schoendoerffer's movie contains autobiographic elements that sometimes appear in dialogues and is particularly illustrated by the military cameraman character. Actor Ludovic Schoendoerffer plays the role of a young Army Cinematographic Service cameraman using the same camera type as his father, Corporal Pierre Schoendoerffer, did in 1954.
Background
Unlike many Hollywood Vietnam War blockbusters, Dîen Bîen Phu is, according to the director, more a docudramaDocudrama
In film, television programming and staged theatre, docudrama is a documentary-style genre that features dramatized re-enactments of actual historical events. As a neologism, the term is often confused with docufiction....
based on real events, in the style of Tora! Tora! Tora!
Tora! Tora! Tora!
is a 1970 American-Japanese war film that dramatizes the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, to the extent these facts were known at the time of production. The film was directed by Richard Fleischer and stars an all-star cast, including So Yamamura, E.G...
. Writer/director Pierre Schoendoerffer is a veteran of the battle; in 1952, volunteer Corporal Schoendoerffer joined the Service Cinématographique des Armées (French Army Cinematographic Service) as a cameraman.
On 11 March 1954, Schoendoerffer was injured at Dien Bien Phu, in a minor skirmish (coast 781 attack) before the main battle, and he was sent to the southern base located in Saigon aboard a C-47 transport plane
C-47 Skytrain
The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota is a military transport aircraft that was developed from the Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in front line operations through the 1950s with a few remaining in operation to this day.-Design and...
. Since there were no other cameramen remaining on the battlefield, Schoendoerffer insisted on returning to document the event. Finally, on March 18, he was allowed to take off from the northern base Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
, located at 1H15 (252 km) from Dien Bien Phu, on a C-47 and to jump with the 5th Bawouan (Vietnamese Parachute Battalion) over Dien Bien Phu.
Schoendoerffer was still injured and wore bandages when he chose to return to the battlefield. Officers told him "it's wasted, don't go!" ("c'est foutu, n'y va pas!"), but he insisted as "[he] had to be there to testify" as he planned to give his film to the pilots, after the battle, as an homage. However, nobody saw this footage since he destroyed his own camera and all his 60-second-films on May 7, except for six of them which were confiscated by the Viet Minh during an aborted jailbreak and ended up in the hands of Soviet cameraman Roman Karmen
Roman Karmen
Roman Lazarevich Karmen was a Soviet war camera-man and film director and one of the most influential figures in documentary film making; insofar as his propaganda is concerned he could be considered USSR's answer to Leni Riefenstahl, though the comparison is by no means absolute.-Communist...
. As a 25-year-old corporal cameraman, Schoendoerffer was not actually a journalist, but the French Army did not interfere and let him shoot everything he wanted. His films were supposed to be sent to the rear on March 28, using a C-47 belonging to a military nurse named Geneviève de Galard
Geneviève de Galard
Geneviève de Galard is a French nurse who was dubbed l'ange de Dien Bien Phu during the French war in Indochina by the press in Hanoi, although in the camp she was known simply as Geneviève....
, but the C-47 was damaged beyond repair by Viet Minh artillery that hit the Red Cross aircraft.
Schoendoerffer used a Bell & Howell 35mm black-and-white
Black-and-white
Black-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...
camera with three telephoto lenses mounted on a turret. This model is known for its highly flammable film but also for "its remarkable black and grey picture quality never seen again since" dixit Pierre Schoendoerffer.
On May 7, 1954, at 6 p.m., a half hour after the French ceasefire (except for the strongpoint Isabelle still fighting until May 8 1:00 a.m.) he was ordered to get out of his Parachute Commandment blockhouse, where he was waiting with the officers Bigeard and Langlais and the military nurse Geneviève de Galard and subsequently became a Viet Minh POW.
Once free, he became a war reporter-photographer for American magazines. In 1967, his Vietnam War black-and-white documentary, The Anderson Platoon
The Anderson Platoon
The Anderson Platoon is a documentary feature by Pierre Schoendoerffer about the Vietnam War. Two decades later, a sequel was released as Reminiscence.-Background:...
(La Section Anderson), won an Academy Award for Documentary Feature
Academy Award for Documentary Feature
The Academy Award for Documentary Feature is among the most prestigious awards for documentary films.- Winners and nominees:Following the Academy's practice, films are listed below by the award year...
. Later Schoendoerffer was named Vice-President of the French Académie des Beaux Arts (Academy of Fine Arts).
Cast
| Actor/Actress Actor An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity... |
Role | Nationality Nationality Nationality is membership of a nation or sovereign state, usually determined by their citizenship, but sometimes by ethnicity or place of residence, or based on their sense of national identity.... |
|---|---|---|
| Donald Pleasence Donald Pleasence Sir Donald Henry Pleasence, OBE, was a British actor who gained more than 200 screen credits during a career which spanned over four decades... |
Howard Simpson (writer, journalist) | British England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental... , American |
| Patrick Catalifo | Captain Victorien Jégu de Kerveguen (Foreign Legion) | French France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France... (Breton Breton people The Bretons are an ethnic group located in the region of Brittany in France. They trace much of their heritage to groups of Brythonic speakers who emigrated from southwestern Great Britain in waves from the 3rd to 6th century into the Armorican peninsula, subsequently named Brittany after them.The... ) |
| Jean-François Balmer Jean-François Balmer Jean-François Balmer is a Swiss actor. He has worked extensively in French cinema, television and stage productions since the early 1970s.-Selected filmography:* Little Marcel * La Menace... |
AFP employee (Agence France Presse) | French |
| Ludmila Mikaël | Béatrice Vergnes (violinist, Cpt. de Kerveguen's cousin) | French (Breton) |
| François Négret | Corporal (Train Detachment, temporary affectation) | French |
| Maxime Leroux | Artillery Lieutenant (African regiment) | French |
| Raoul Billerey | Father Wamberger (priest) | French (Alsatian Alsace Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²... ) |
| Thé Anh | Ong Cop aka Mr. Tiger (gambler) | Vietnam Vietnam Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –... ese |
| Christopher Buchholz | Captain Morvan (3rd Bureau Chief-Staff) | French |
| Patrick Chauvel Patrick Chauvel Patrick Chauvel has been an independent war photographer since his youth. He went through more than twenty conflicts all over the world, including the Vietnam War and the Six-Day War.He is also author of some documentary movies.... |
Lieutenant Duroc (DC-3 pilot, French Air Force) | French |
| Eric Do | Lieutenant Ky (5th Vietnamese Parachute Battalion "Bawouan") | Vietnam Vietnam Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –... ese |
| Igor Hossein | Caporal-Chief photograph (Service Cinématographique des Armées) | French |
| Luc Lavandier | Sergeant (Thai unit) | French |
| Joseph Momo | Koulibali (African Artillery Regiment) | Gabon Gabon Gabon , officially the Gabonese Republic is a state in west central Africa sharing borders with Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, and with the Republic of the Congo curving around the east and south. The Gulf of Guinea, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean is to the west... ese |
| Lê Vân Nghia | Simpson's cycloman | Vietnamese |
| Sava Lolov | Thade Korzeniowski (Foreign Legion, Tank Chief) | Polish Poland Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north... |
| Thu Ha | Cuc (Thade Korzeniowski's fiancee) | Vietnamese |
| Long Nguyen-Khac | Mr. Vinh (printer, nationalist) | Vietnamese |
| Maïté Nahyr | The Eurasian (opium dealer) | French-Vietnamese |
| André Peron | Lt. Ky's adjoint (5th Vietnamese Parachute Battalion "Bawouan") | French |
| Ludovic Schoendoerffer | Sergeant cameraman (Service Cinématographique des Armées) | French |
| Hoa Debris | Betty ("Normandie Chez Betty" bar's patron) | Vietnamese |
| "Charles" Fathy Abdi | "Nam Yum rat" (Train Regiment deserter) | Moroccan Morocco Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara... |
| Pierre Schoendoerffer Pierre Schoendoerffer Pierre Schoendoerffer is a French film director, a screenwriter, a writer, a war reporter, a war cameraman, a renowned First Indochina War veteran, a cinema academician and since 2001 the President of the Académie des Beaux-Arts.-Family:... |
Narrator (voice) | n/a |
International release
- THEATER
- Diên Biên Phu (Dien Bien Phu) (1992)
- 愛と戦火の大地 ("Ai to Senka no Daichi", Ground of Love & War) (1995)
- VHS
- Diên Biên Phu
- Die Schlacht von Dien Bien Phu (The Battle of Dien Bien Phu), United Video (1993)
- Die Bien Phu
- スカイミッション 空挺要塞DC-3 ("Skymission Koutei Yousai DC-3", Sky Mission: Airborne Fortified Camp DC-3), Albatross & Nippon Columbia (1996)
- DVD
- Diên Biên Phu (Dien Bien Phu), TF1 Vidéo (2004)
- Die Hōlle von Dien Bien Phu (The hell of Dien Bien Phu), Laser Paradise (2004)
- Điện Biên Phủ (Dien Bien Phu), SecoFilm & Modfilm (2005)