People say "the child is the father of the man." In Tam Hon Me (Mother's Soul), the child is the mother of the woman. Since Vietnamese society is historically matriarchal-centric, the film makes audience ponders about the paradox beyond its narrative. Mother's Soul is a very Vietnamese film because it uses spiritual elements in a very human story.
On the street of Hanoi near the Red River, a woman and her daughter struggle to make a living selling fruits. Lusting for the affection of a truck driver, she neglects her child. The daughter is Thu, who is independent and acts beyond her age. Thu isn't one of those children who are on the screen to make the viewers cry. Her bond with a young boy from school is surprisingly innocent, maternal, and spiritual. The film is very Romantic in a classical sense; children are sometimes able to come closest to God.
The filmmakers portray Thu as a fully developed character. The young actress Phùng Hoa Hoai Linh carries the role with stoicism and conviction. Physically, she seems frail, but her actions are swift and sometimes cruel, a sign of maturity. Her mother, on the other hand, seems to have trouble getting over her life's failure and being abandoned by her husband. The actress, Hong Anh, plays the character bravely with vulnerability. You care for the mother even when her decisions are irresponsible and stupid. Her motive is simple. She yearns for love but gets none. In a heartbreaking scene, she's naked, covered in mud, and breaks down in front of the kids comforting her. Possibly, one of Mother's Soul biggest strengths is its sympathy to all the characters. Even men are portrayed not as generic villains but with compassion and understanding.
Mother's Soul is directed with insight by visionary female director Pham Nhue Giang. She's made only three films and in all of them, the female leads are portrayed as flawed human beings with superficial values. For example in her first movie, The Deserted Valley, the young teacher falls in love with a handsome but fleeting boyfriend instead of her kind and caring middle aged male colleague. In Mother's Soul, the mother is also blinded by a frivolous romance. However, the film does much more than preach us about parenting. As Thu finds out, in order to be a good mother to someone else you have to be a mother to yourself first. This implied focus on individualism is what makes Mother's Soul an exceptional Vietnamese movie.
Mother's Soul is produced by the Vietnam Feature Film Studio, which is now bankrupted and deserted. While Vietnamese movies are generally conservative due to censorship from the government, this film feels genuine and very bold. Possibly, because it's written by Phan Dang Di, it might have been able to bypass regulation for its lyricism. Otherwise, the filmmakers might have fought tooth and nail to make the movie that they intended to make.
There are beautiful and shocking scenes in Mother's Soul. Consider a few involving a rat. They are not there for gross effect but tells us about the various characters it interacts with. One shows the rodent running for its life. The camera goes handheld following its trail, with Thu in the foreground chasing after it. The cinematography is by Ly Thai Dung, who also lenses Father and Son. Here he films scenes of children in natural surroundings with water and lush greenery suggesting their escape from the hardship of real life in the city. Whereas, deep-focus is used in scenes of the bustling streets and squalid market where adults scurry to make ends meet. There is a sequence of magical realism. It is a convincing use of special effects and must have been really expensive for the film production.
Adapted from a short story by the great Vietnamese author Nguyen Huy Thiep, the film implies how much damage Vietnam's economic reform has done to its heritage. In order for the country to shift toward industrialization, it might have to shed its soul - the soul of the motherland. The tribute of Vietnamese's traditional values and way of life is a recurring theme for many of Thiep's works, most notably in Nostalgia For The Countryside.
The last scene of Mother's Soul takes place in the cornfield. The bright green color we've seen before is now very dark suggesting a gloomy future for our characters. Will Thu grow up to be the same as her mother?
