Diên Biên Phú - A Última Batalha da Indochina

This movie narrates Dien Bien Phu battle, the decisive one between France and Indochina separatists - Vietnamese having not finished with wars as this was preceding the US presence and Vietnam war. As important as it is for France to have a movie on this war, and this battle - with only a few other - the movie is globally disappointing. Mainly its first part, where the conflict is shown through the eyes of an american reporter, in relation with some French military officers and one Vietnamese rickshaw driver... The characters are stereotyped, and the population is represented, outside the rickshaw driver, by the bets at a Chinese bookmaker and one educated Vietnamese - with both these two guys pretty well aware of what awaits them in the future with the Vietcong! I have to confess, as a French, I would have loved to have the Vietnamese population shown and their relationship with France, instead of that and a classical violin concert.

Second part is better as it shows the battle itself and has the quality to avoid its representation by blitz war and clear winners / losers. Here the war longs the whole days, with losses and wins changing each time. We see how volunteers keep coming, to help their fellow soldiers (France 'territory' is not the point anymore) and to defend their honor - not forgetting the 'rats', the one that hide and avoid the battle.

Globally, average.

My 2nd viewing of the movie in 1080p quality with slightly better translated English subtitles. The battles scenes are very realistic. I read that the film was made by Pierre Schoenderffer, a former French army cameraman who requested to be dropped on Dien Bien Phu even though the outcome of the battle was pretty much decided, to document the battle for later generations. Unfortunately the films he made during the battle were lost or destroyed, so he made this movie. The film is beautifully shot. The cinematography is amazing. Captivating war drama from start to finish, almost on par with Saving Private Ryan.

The French have done few films about their own Vietnam war. Schoendorffer has done two of them, the 317th Platoon and Dien Bien Phu, the latter about the 1954 battle where the French army was defeated and lost the war. This movie was a sort of answer to Oliver Stone's Platoon and its hand-held cinematography and "realistic" shooting et setting strongly evokes the recent US war movies. However it goes little beyond that (war is dirty, people did their best etc.). It may serves as a useful reminder of this war (it is quite forgotten, even in France) and as a touching tribute to the people who fought this doomed and dubious battle. It's more an interesting attempt than a real success as a movie.

I saw this movie in East Beirut some years back when I was reluctant to watch war movies. Donald Pleasance makes an English language appearance in a French Language film. And as always is riveting. However the film strikingly reminded me of certain world powers', their colonial aspirations and their consequent outcomes, related to Lebanon and Vietnam. The film unravels how they, the tail end of the Victorian era, French in this case, loose colonies, lost control, and what followed would turn out to be similar. It is interesting that even the coins of both countries were both called piasters, and both had slots in the middle, like much of the Asian coinage still does. The French tried to suppress the national uprising in favor of their own revenues, and later the Americans saw their opportunity, to target practice and sell goods, if to no one else their own GI's. Lyndon Johnson and his tribe started Southland Corp. aka(7-11)after all. Haliburton had a big hand in that conflict as well. This film is worth your while if you can find it. I haven't seen it on Blockbuster online or Netflix.

I liked the film and it has a strong message... the war scenes are very well done for the year 92... an excellent script and a guide of striking lines... but two and a half hours was too long... at some point the film became repetitive and boring. The political parts bored me a lot.... Overall well made and interesting. 6/10.