Illustration: Phan Nhan |
The next morning, the old forest by the river still had patches of morning dew. The whole group was awake. The leader's order:
- Quickly, prepare to cross the river. Take advantage of the fog that has not yet cleared to avoid enemy reconnaissance planes.
Nguyen hurriedly packed his hammock, tent, camera, and video camera into a backpack, tied them tightly in a plastic bag, and wrapped a piece of plastic sheet to cover the rain outside, and rolled them up to make a buoy to cross the river. The river water was cold, but not fast, so the whole group crossed the river safely.
***
Originally from Cu Chi District - Saigon, after completing a course in war filmmaking, he was assigned to Zone 6. In the early years of the 60s, the battlefield had not yet opened any major campaigns. We secretly rebuilt bases inside strategic hamlets, consolidated and rebuilt suburban areas, and reconnected communication lines that had been cut off after the 10/59 Law of the Ngo brothers. We hunted down, imprisoned, and tortured "Viet Cong collaborators" with the aim of terrorizing them mentally, while pushing our armed propaganda forces away from the bases.
In the first days of working at the Propaganda Department, he was still bewildered and unfamiliar with the job, which lacked all facilities. The main job was to clear the fields and grow cassava to have a source of food to feed the troops from A. The work was boring, always tearing him apart. Sometimes he thought to himself: "Is this the revolution of my life?" Mr. Nam Long, the officer in charge of the propaganda sub-committee, lived with Nguyen every day and understood the mood of the young reporter who had just graduated from school through each sigh, through each gesture at work.
- I want to discuss this work with you…
- What job, is it important?
- For now, I will propose to ask for the direction of Mr. Nam (Mr. Nam is the Head of the Propaganda Department) so that you can make a film. For now, serve the ethnic people in the Cat Tien base area and then in the villages and hamlets of the ethnic people in Da Teh, Bu Gia Map, Bu Dang, Bu Dop, Buon Go, Bom Bo... Pausing for a moment, he took out a pack of tobacco from his pocket, rolled the tobacco into a ball with both hands, and continued:
- You prepare, come with me to the villages around the base to penetrate reality, write the script and start making the film.
Nguyen was overjoyed, his mood at that moment was indescribable, his hands and feet were fumbling around not knowing what to do. He was happy, but his stomach was still worried. He thought to himself: "I've never made a projector film before, will I be able to do it?"
The projector had to be sent to the base in Madagui to be purchased and brought in. The projector projected individual pieces of film (slight), not in rolls like the projectors made in Hanoi . So each time a scene was shown, it was explained.
Dieu Xuyen, a tall and strong girl with a deep, warm voice, was chosen by the art troupe. It was called an art troupe but in reality there were only a few people, the instruments were guitar and mandolin. With an expressive voice, Dieu Xuyen often introduced the song before the beginning of the performance. Mr. Nam Long called Dieu Xuyen in and said:
- Go see Mr. Nguyen so he can teach you how to read movie commentary.
- What is the comment, uncle?
- Just approach and you will see.
At first, Nguyen and Dieu Xuyen were awkward when they first met, but gradually through work they became closer. Nguyen did not expect that the little girl from the Stieng ethnic group was not only smart and beautiful, but also attentive and followed his instructions. Later, she also created words with emphasis and melody, expressing her feelings in her narration. In addition, she also knew the Chau Ma ethnic group in the Nam Cat Tien region. This was an advantage for her trips to serve in the communes north of the Dong Nai River.
The difficulty in the battlefield was how to get positive film (Poshitip) to make a projection film. After many sleepless nights of thinking, even while working in the fields, he thought about how to make a film.
- Ah! Out! - He shouted in the middle of the field, surprising everyone in the office.
- What's out? - asked a teammate.
- I have a way to make a projector film.
Everyone burst out laughing, what a fool - thinking it was something terrible.
The only way is to buy positive film (Inversip), take a photo and develop it directly, without going through the negative (Negatip). The limitation is that each film only has one copy.
***
In the meeting, chaired by Uncle Nam - Head of the Propaganda Department of the area, Mr. Nam Long presented:
- Dear Mr. Nam, dear comrades, the purpose of merging the film projection team, the art troupe and the projection film into a propaganda team to serve the soldiers and ethnic people in the base area is a new form of expression. Synthesizing the three disciplines of music, film projection, and propaganda projection at the same time in an ideological battle. Creating a positive impact on the audience. Therefore, every time we go to serve the ethnic people, we often call it a "ball singing team".
Walking step by step across the stream, Nguyen held Dieu Xuyen's hand tightly, her small, slender hand had a few calluses on it, he felt sorry for the girls who sacrificed their youth to join the revolution. He thought to himself: "If Dieu Xuyen lived in the city and dressed up a little, she wouldn't be any worse than anyone else."
- We're almost there, brother! - Dieu Xuyen's voice.
Far away on the other side of the grassland, Brun village is hidden in the old forest. On this trip, he and Dieu Xuyen returned to the village to infiltrate the reality and write the first script for the film. Under the intense heat, sweat soaked the torn shirts of the Chau Ma girls, but smiles still bloomed on their lips. They were threshing rice, their hands moving quickly, their mouths talking and laughing happily. Nguyen and Dieu Xuyen observed the labor scene in the fields, from which he formed the script line for the film "Golden Season on the Fields".
Later, when they finished making it and brought it home to serve customers, the girls were so embarrassed to see themselves on the screen. They were smiling and laughing, while the young men were screaming and booing loudly. The images were accompanied by ethnic language narration, easy for the people to understand, penetrating people's hearts like a cool breeze blowing on a summer afternoon. The old people were very excited, they believed in the revolution even more.
***
The afternoon sun shone down on the river, sparkling with golden light. A quiet afternoon suddenly rang out, the sound of the engine of the L19 reconnaissance plane scanning the river. They discovered a dugout canoe pulling up to the shore to escape. A voice called from the cockpit:
- The Eagle heard clearly and replied. The owl urgently needs support from two iron birds at coordinate X.
Then came the whistling sound of rockets, the sound was so solid that “boom” a puff of white smoke rose, the dugout canoe broke into pieces. Two fighter planes swooped down and dropped bombs repeatedly on the old forest by the river, where a village of ethnic minorities lived. Columns of smoke rose high, the whistling sounds, the earth-shattering explosions tore apart the quiet space. Following that were the sounds of dogs barking, chickens crowing and people shouting and calling each other to run away in the old forest. Nguyen and his team huddled under a large tree, his body lying on top of Dieu Xuyen. By chance, without any other intention, a bomb exploded with a roar that shook the whole old forest, leaves rustled, the two hugged each other tightly. The buttons on her shirt popped open, revealing before his eyes the plump, round breasts of a young girl. The situation progressed so quickly between life and death, the two of them thought of nothing other than the survival instinct of relying on each other. After the bombs were over, Dieu Xuyen's face turned red. She awkwardly stood up and turned around to button her shirt.
- Are you okay? The flying car is so fierce.
- Luckily, Nguyen replied. He didn't see us.
No one in the group was injured, only their personal belongings had some bomb fragments piercing their backpacks. A professional reflex, Nguyen quickly took out his camera to take pictures of the scene before his eyes. A burnt old forest, large tree stumps were uprooted, cattle were burned to death and people were carrying each other running deep into the old forest, still carrying torn baskets on their backs and carrying rafts on their shoulders.
Mr. Nam Long understood the opinion of the head of the steering committee: "The Shadow Theater Group" must release a film about the incident that happened in Ba Lu village on the riverbank to incite hatred, denounce the enemy's crimes, and remind people to raise their vigilance. He discussed with Nguyen:
- At any cost, you must release a film about the bombing at Ba Lu village.
- But, that day I took the photo with negative film, I told you that negative film cannot be used to make slide film.
- This is an order from above, nothing more.
Nguyen's face turned gray, he stood there speechless. As if understanding Nguyen's mood, Nam Long gently said:
- You try, I believe in your resourcefulness. But as the old saying goes, "Necessity is the mother of invention", you should think hard.
The old forest night was quiet and peaceful, the moonlight slanted through the leaves, Nguyen tossed and turned, unable to sleep, hearing Nam Long's words from the afternoon: "We must do something to avoid losing the trust of the leaders". The sound of the birds waking him up startled him, after thinking for a long time he finally figured out how to make a film. He got up, connected the battery to the projector bulb, projected a large image of the films taken in the afternoon in Ba Lu village. Then he put it in a plastic bag to drain the water, forming a small basin like a sink. When he returned to the hammock, the rooster had already crowed. After a long sleep, K'Lanh - in charge of the projector's generator shouted loudly:
- What did you do last night that you slept so soundly? It's noon already, dad.
- I was taking pictures and then fell asleep without knowing it.
Mouth answered, hand rubbed each photo under spring water then hung up to dry. Use positive film (Inversip) to take all the enlarged photos. When developed, although the quality is reduced in sharpness, black and white contrast is worse, but it can be served. A sigh of relief: "Success".
The love story on the banks of the Dong Nai River with a girl of the S'tieng ethnic group only lingered in the subconscious. The battlefield was in a major campaign, Nguyen carried his backpack and followed the army to attack the Dam Ron outpost (Dam Rong district today) in the summer of 1963. Next, in 1964, he returned to liberate Hoai Duc district (Binh Tuy province), a large plain, the rice granary of Binh Thuan province today. He was like a bird, wherever there was a campaign, he was present until the day the South was liberated...
Source: https://baolamdong.vn/van-hoa-nghe-thuat/202506/doi-hat-bong-8c53d58/
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