Director Joris Ivens with the collaboration of Marceline Loridan

Countries France

Duration 113 min

Synopsis
This film was shot on North Vietnam close to the border with the South. It is a living chronicle as said by Ivens "The film is made for the Vietnamese, through them. This was only possible because we lived completely with the population, the peasants and soldiers, day and night. For two months we had the same shelter, the same food, the same weapons, the same enemy, the same danger... ". It’s the first film to be co-directed with Loridan, who participated in all the construction and conception of the film in an ouvre were Ivens abandoned the dramatic montage and began to use long sequences and shots in which Loridan’s experties was determinant. Ivens emphasizes the importance of the translator-doctor: " Our translatordoctor was very precious to us she knew how to translate feelings as much as language, and could arouse interest and enthusiasm for the cinema in the local population. Thanks to her the film could perhaps be considered a Vietnamese film.