Underplayed Gems

The Abandoned Field: Free Fire Zone (1979)

The Abandoned Field: Free Fire Zone poster
Original title
Cánh đồng hoang
Directed by
Nguyễn Hồng Sến
Genre
drama film
Country
Vietnam
Runtime
1h 30m
Rating
6.5 of 10 from 4 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A couple and their young child live hidden in the flooded Mekong Delta, constantly evading American helicopter attacks during the Vietnam War. The film shows their daily struggle to survive and maintain their humanity under relentless threat from above.

tenseunnervingintimatetendervisceralsomberclaustrophobiccontrasting

What happens

The Abandoned Field: Free Fire Zone (Vietnamese: Cánh đồng hoang) is a 1979 Vietnamese drama film directed by Nguyễn Hồng Sến. It won the Golden Prize and the Prix FIPRESCI at the 12th Moscow International Film Festival. The film gives an "unnerving and compelling .. subjective-camera-eye-view" of life under helicopter fire in a free-fire zone in the Mekong Delta during the Vietnam War. The film cuts to an (American) "helicopter-eye view", contrasting painfully with the human tenderness seen earlier. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.