Social realism - the new "dish" of Vietnamese cinema

Amid the trend of entertaining films such as horror, comedy or romance, some Vietnamese filmmakers are choosing to tell stories that breathe life, touching on real social issues. This decision is considered risky to bring the audience "new dishes", at the same time showing the sense of responsibility of the professionals.

Choose the difficult path

In mid-September, People's Public Security Cinema (CAND) and Galaxy Group released Death Battle in the Air (directed by Ham Tran) - inspired by two hijackings that took place in Vietnam. The film brought a breath of fresh air to the audience and achieved success with a revenue of more than 250 billion VND after nearly 2 months of showing.

This week, Money Trap (directed by Oscar Duong, premiering November 21) hits theaters nationwide. The film goes straight to the heartbreaking reality: phone scams and other forms of high-tech crime. This is the first Vietnamese film to directly depict sophisticated scams that have left thousands of people victims. Instead of just focusing on the crime-solving aspect, the film focuses on the psychology of the scammed, the panic of being caught in a financial “trap” and the hidden corners behind it.

A scene from Blood Paradise - a film about social realism. Photo: Producer

Closing the year 2025, director Hoang Tuan Cuong also released the movie Blood Paradise, the content revolves around the problem of defrauding Vietnamese people to go abroad to work.

“This is a thorny issue in life. Many people have been deceived or deceived with the promise of easy work and high salary, so they have fallen into harsh situations,” director Hoang Tuan Cuong shared. To ensure accuracy, the film received content support from CAND Cinema.

Previously, many works, such as: Crashing: Mother's Birthday (Nguyen Thanh Binh), Brilliant Night (Aaron Toronto) - brought unique perspectives revolving around seemingly familiar themes of love and family; Live: Livestream (Khuong Ngoc) - reflected the dark corners of the livestream profession; Fanti (Andy Nguyen) - exposed the dark sides of social networks... showed the filmmakers' commitment to realistic topics.

Currently in production, Human Trafficking Camp (Toni Duong Bao Anh), which reflects the situation of human trafficking in border areas, also shows an effort to expand the creative range.

Innovate for the audience

Hang Trinh, producer of the film Money Trap, expressed her hope that Vietnamese cinema will increasingly exploit more social issues, because this is almost inevitable to bring audiences new stories that do not follow the beaten path. According to her, filmmakers cannot just wait for innovation from the market, but must accept risks, renew themselves to bring audiences diverse choices.

However, choosing these topics means filmmakers have to accept many challenges and risks. Works like Live: Live Stream, Fanti, or Crash: Mom's Birthday, although highly appreciated for their ideas, still have difficulty attracting audiences to the theaters.
“The biggest challenge is the acceptance of the general audience. When they are used to watching movies for entertainment, bringing a movie that is both entertaining and profound is a great pressure,” producer Hang Trinh admitted.

Besides, making realistic films also faces many challenges. As with Deathmatch in the Air, a series of problems arise such as: how to restore the plane to ensure it is both realistic and suitable for filming; or how to make the action scenes tense and attractive but still maintain historical truth and human elements.

Faced with challenges, each team has its own solution with the support of professional units. For example, in Money Trap, the team invested in designing a simulation application called DealZ with the advice of the Cyber ​​Security Department. In addition, the director also proactively contacted experts in the fields of accounting, finance - banking, and lawyers to edit and perfect the script to create a story that is close to the audience but still ensures professionalism.

Or with Death Battle in the Air, Lieutenant Colonel Tran Nam Chung, Director of CAND Cinema, said that to ensure accuracy, the film crew transported from the North to Ho Chi Minh City almost an entire real plane, which is being used as a training tool by the Special Forces Battalion of the Mobile Police Command, Ministry of Public Security .

No longer shying away, Vietnamese filmmakers are showing that they are willing to step out of their comfort zone to explore topics about social reality. The works that have been and are about to be released are proof that only when they dare to face and tell their own stories, Vietnamese films can truly become diverse and improve in quality.

VAN TUAN

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/hien-thuc-xa-hoi-mon-an-moi-cua-phim-viet-post824007.html