Please don't spend money on this.

Dreadfully Boring

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

A beautiful yet poignant narrative of mans paradoxical existence in relation to each other and the honest forces of nature, i.e., the duality of man as virtuous parasites. The themes of life and death are juxtaposed into a realization of powers greater than our own opinions or ethos. Director Nguyen Vo Nghiem Minh successfully enlightens of the psyche of fatalistic and enduring Vietnamese people. "Mua Len Trau" needs to be placed in the top 10 best Vietnamese directed full features of all times, or at least trading-places with less then average film fest winners like "Ba Mua"; where the cinematography fools the viewer into accepting an inexplicable story.

OK, let's have a plot summary: Vietnamese dude leads a bunch of buffaloes in search of grass.That's it.(The DVD packagers are going to have a hell of a time selling this one.)But I assure you that the symbolism, the poetry, and the commentary on the conflict of the human condition is absolutely enthralling. You have to be looking for it, though, because it's quite subtle.We are shown a land & a culture of savagery. We travel with rogues, rapists and murderers. Even the lead character is vulnerable to lapses in moral character. But through it all, he maintains the utmost dedication to his buffaloes and to those kind humans whom he encounters along the way. To me, it's one of the most honest portrayals of moral conflict in human beings. True, we are savage and brutal, but there is also honor, if you dig down deep enough.The Vietnamese reverence for water buffaloes is something I never understood, but now I do. Eat your heart out, Francis Ford Coppola (who had a water buffalo slaughtered in "Apocalypse Now" and blamed it on a local tribe. Yeah, right).If you can find a copy of this rare gem, definitely give it a watch. There's a lot more to it than you'd ever expect.

I saw this movie in a small theater in Paris in presence of the Director. What surprised me most at the beginning was the violation of basic rules such as framings that were not what we're usually used to. But you know the rule, better know it before you break it! So the result is visually quite pleasing. As for the story, that is quite dark, I remember the underwater scenes with skeletons that are focus point of the whole story: as far as I remember, the whole story is spinning about how fragile our existence maybe and how straight one can become when being in such conditions. I mean the main character is about to perform rape but would you blame him? Yes, of course. I've been a couple of months in Vietnam, but not in that special place. Next time I hope. I hope the director will still be shooting so that we can watch a movie that flavors the very feel of that Country and its people..

Lyrical, beautifully filmed story of the difficult lives of poor rice farmers in the Mekong Delta flood plain in the years immediately preceding the Japanese occupation of WW II. Kim (The Lu Le) is a young man who must take on extra responsibilities when his father grows too ill to work.The immediate problem is getting the family's two water buffalo to higher ground so they will have grass to eat, as the entire area surrounding their farm is experiencing one of the worst flood seasons in years and the animals are at risk for starving to death. Kim throws in with the notorious Lap and his "gang" – buffalo herders who move many animals each year for all the farmers in the area, for a hefty fee.The film features buffalo drives, gang rivalries and warfare, drunken, cannabis laced parties, raped women, love, honor and duty to one's family. But the most vivid theme depicted here is the very hard life lived by people entirely at the mercy of the river.Many important themes are expressed with subtlety, lightly touched upon. For example, we see evidence of the admixture of Catholicism and Buddhism, when one character or another makes simple reference to "God and Buddha" in everyday conversation. The heavy hand of the French colonizers is discerned just once, when a boatload of armed, uniformed officers comes around to check on tax matters. As Kim digs a grave for an old woman, we see in the background a procession of men pass by. Those in the front and rear wear caps with sun protective cloth at the back: the classic caps of Japanese soldiers. The others are French. It's the only reference to the occupation.We gain insight into problems unique to this culture. We learn of the precious value of the water buffalo, without which spring tilling for rice cannot be accomplished. The problem of disposing properly of bodies of the dead during flood season is confronted at length. We get a sense of the pervasiveness and power of the delta floods through underwater scenes that show us vague forms of dead humans and swimming water buffalo, among other sights.The music is sporadic and spare, hauntingly gorgeous. Flute playing and group singing by intoxicated gang members are delightful surprises. This film is part of the Global Lens 2005 series. It deserves far wider screening. (In Vietnamese) Grade: 8.5/10 (A-). (Seen on 04/14/05). If you'd like to read more of my reviews, send me a message for directions to my websites.