The Sawyers
(Nhung nguoi tho xe)
by Vuong Duc
Vietnam
Focus on vietnamese cinema
Script: Son Trang after Nguyen Huy Thiep's novel
Cinematographer: Vu Quoc Tuan
Editor: Tran Anh Hoa, Nguyen Thai Vu
Sound: Nguyen Thai Vu
Music: Do Hong Quan
Cast: Quoc Tri, Le Vu Long, Vu Dinh Than, Ngoc Bich, Thanh Tam
Production: Tran Thuong Dich, Vietnam Feature Film Studio
Distribution:
Cinéma Public Films
84 rue du Président Wilson
92300 Levallois-Perret
France
Tel: 0033 1.41.27.01.44
Fax: 0033 1.42.70.06.65
Mail: [email protected]
www. cinemapublicfilms.com
Year: 1998
Screening: 2002
35 mm, Colour, 85 min,
vOV Vietnamese with French Subtitles
Awarded at National Vietnamese Film Festival
Illiterate Buong steals dogs to cook them in the restaurant he owns. The villagers chase him away. He leaves with Ngoc, his nephew who graduated from university, and a few family members. They reach the jungle where Thuyet, a mean and brutal trafficker, employs them as wood cutters. Thuyet’s daughter feels for Ngoc, which annoys lout Buong.
In this film, Vuong Duc explores work as well as nature and creates a crescendo of a tensed, even oppressive climate where harsh realistic sequences are followed by sentimental scenes.
« I wanted to throw the audience into the reality of the tropical jungle in central Vietnam where wild animals and venomous snakes may suddenly appear at every step, where a quiet stream may suddenly engulf you, where the climate, the atmosphere, the flowers seem to remind us of our own wilderness, hence making every man a dangerous person for the others. In a civilised society, nothing is more ferocious and more horrible than the law of the jungle…» Vuong Duc.