Behind the scenes of the film "Tunnel: Sun in the Dark"

The war has been over for 50 years, the settings, props... necessary to make a wartime film are not easy at all. In "Tunnels: Sun in the Dark", director Bui Thac Chuyen, producer Nguyen Tri Vien and the crew chose to solve the most difficult problem - recreating one of the most fierce wars of the nation, under the tunnels.

Therefore, to create the images in the film "Tunnel: Sun in the Dark", the production crew had to work extremely hard to bring the audience the most specific but also the most realistic images of a historical period.

The film was conceived by director Bui Thac Chuyen for more than 10 years, prepared for 1 year and started filming at the end of February 2024. The producers carefully prepared both the outdoor and indoor scenes of the tunnels.

To recreate life inside the tunnels through the images of Bay Theo and the Cu Chi guerrilla squad, the film crew recreated the scene outside the tunnels at Hoa Phu studio of Ho Chi Minh City Television (HTV). In addition, some outdoor scenes were also filmed in a forest along the Saigon River in Cu Chi. Filming in Cu Chi also brought emotions to the members of the film crew, contributing to the success of the film.

A stage of making tunnels in a film studio.

For the story content inside the tunnel, the crew built a real tunnel right at two large studios of HK Films to realistically show the scenes depicting daily life and the tense, breathless battles inside the tunnel between Cu Chi guerrillas and American soldiers.

The tunnels in the studio were meticulously recreated down to every detail. With the help and advice of People's Armed Forces Hero To Van Duc - a guerrilla who lived and fought in the Cu Chi tunnels, a primitive, complex and interwoven tunnel, simulating the "hand digging" of the Cu Chi people at that time, was created by the crew.

After many trials, each section of the tunnel was created from different materials, but the final layer was still soil. The surface was then colored, animated, or added with tree roots... to create a sense of authenticity and variety.

With such a realistic setting, filming had to follow conditions similar to the real tunnels to give the audience the most authentic feeling. But that was also a challenge for the production crew. The first difficulty was the terrain and lighting in the simulated tunnels.

In addition to the underground tunnel simulation built in the studio, which was tested over and over again with many materials and methods, all the filming had to be done by hand, both to have the most "human" and realistic look, and also because the narrow space could not build a track for the camera.

The camera was very difficult to fix in the narrow space of the tunnel.

Director Bui Thac Chuyen kept the lighting in the film purely the oil lamps and flashlights of the soldiers, instead of using other lighting equipment to make filming easier.

Director of photography K'Linh shared: "At first, I didn't know how to shoot this film. About 6 months before filming, I was very confused. In the simulated tunnel, there was no space to place the lights, it was very difficult to move the equipment."

The film uses only light from candles and flashlights.

Initially, the complex terrain of this special “shooting set” made the footage so shaky that it was unusable. The crew had to do serious physical training to get used to moving, carrying the camera, and filming in the tunnel.

Making a film in a dark and narrow space was a challenge for the crew.

According to Director of Photography K'Linh, the filming process of "Tunnel: Sun in the Dark" took 6 times longer than other movies, because the limited space made every stage longer.

But because of that, the audience witnessed a breathtaking, tragic, fierce “Tunnel: Sun in the Dark” that felt as vivid and real as if they were in the movie itself. Not only did the movie receive sympathy from the audience, it was also praised by the guerrillas who fought in Cu Chi. Female guerrilla Tran Thi Neo, who fought in Cu Chi, said she was very proud that the next generation would make a movie to let the audience see and understand the heroic fight of the people and guerrillas in this land of steel.

Armed Forces Hero Vo Thi Mo, who spent 15 years fighting in the tunnels, said she liked all the characters in the guerrilla squad, especially the girls, because they showed bravery when facing fierce attacks from the enemy.

In particular, Hero of the Armed Forces To Van Duc, one of the living witnesses who went through the smoke and fire of the Cu Chi battlefield, highly appreciated the efforts of the film crew.

Armed Forces Hero To Van Duc advises at the studio.

He said: “Without the tunnels, we cannot live. We used to wish to go above ground for just 15 minutes to drink tea. The film shows the reality of the war at that time. There is no exaggeration. Our war has been over for 50 years. Uncle Chuyen is only 54 years old, but he has made such a realistic film about the people's war. I witnessed the film production of the crew with great difficulty, filming such footage is very difficult. We thank director Chuyen and the film crew very much for their efforts.”

Armed Forces Hero To Van Duc is also the prototype of the “bomb sawing expert” Tu Dap in the film. He was the one who instructed actor Quang Tuan on how to handle bombs, bullets, and get explosives…

The words of encouragement from living witnesses who experienced the war, lived and fought in Cu Chi were the greatest and most valuable reward for the film crew.

Source: https://nhandan.vn/hau-truong-lam-phim-dia-dao-mat-troi-trong-bong-toi-post872286.html