The Northwest reached Vietnamese cinema earlier than most other mountain regions, for two very different reasons: the Dien Bien Phu campaign, and the literature written about the Thai and Hmong of Son La and Lai Chau. Here are the films worth seeing before you come.
“A Phu and His Wife” (1961)
The black-and-white adaptation of To Hoai’s story, scripted by the author himself. It shaped the image of “the mountains” in Vietnamese cinema for decades — including the stereotypes today’s filmmakers are still working to undo. Nguyen Van Thuong’s score produced Song on the Mountain, still sung now.
Dien Bien Phu on screen
No battle fought in Vietnam has been filmed as often, and what makes it interesting is that it has been told from both sides.
- Red Ban Flower (1994), directed by Bach Diep. The Vietnamese feature about the campaign, named after the blossom that covers these hillsides in March. Thirty years on it is still screened at every anniversary.
- Memories of Dien Bien (2004), directed by Do Minh Tuan. Made for the fiftieth anniversary and told through the relationship between a Vietnamese soldier and a French prisoner.
- Diên Biên Phu (1992), directed by Pierre Schoendoerffer. A French film shot in Vietnam by a director who had been an army cameraman and was himself taken prisoner at Dien Bien Phu. This is the view from the other side, and the one to watch if you want to understand why the name carries such weight in Europe.
Watching one of the three before you stand on A1 hill will change that morning completely.
“Deserted Valley” (2001)
Pham Nhue Giang’s film, shot deep in the mountains, follows teachers posted to a remote village school. It is one of the few Vietnamese films that tells the truth about lowlanders working in the highlands: the isolation, the shortages, and the language gap between a teacher and her own pupils. If your trip includes a visit to a village school, watch this first.
“Children of the Mist” (2021)
Ha Le Diem’s documentary, filmed over several years in a Hmong village near Sa Pa in Lao Cai, follows a girl from childhood to the moment she faces the practice of bride-pulling. It reached the fifteen-film Oscar shortlist for documentary feature and screened at festivals worldwide.
This is the film we recommend most often to foreign travellers, because it neither judges nor simplifies: you see both the weight of the custom and the struggle inside the girl’s own family. If you plan to ask your guide about “wife-catching”, watch this before you ask.
The Northwest in music videos, shorts and advertising
Mu Cang Chai at harvest, Ta Xua above the clouds, the Sa Pa terraces and the O Quy Ho pass are frames repeated so often that viewers recognise them instantly. The upside is that the region is known; the downside is that a great many crews arrive, dress a scene, and leave without anything staying behind in the place they filmed.
If you are coming here to film
- Border zones require permits. Many of the best locations in Lai Chau, Dien Bien and Lao Cai lie inside the border belt. Filming there — flying a drone above all — needs authorisation. Do not fly first and ask afterwards.
- People in the frame must know they are being filmed — including children, and with children that means asking an adult in the family.
- Do not pay to stage a scene: no hiring people to wear ethnic dress for the shot, no handing money to children to perform for the camera.
- Do not film a ceremony you were not invited to. Funerals, Muong mo rites and family worship are not public content.
- Pay local people properly: fixers, interpreters, the household lending you their courtyard — all of it is work.
Watch one thing before you come
If you have one evening: Children of the Mist. If your route includes Dien Bien, add one film about the battle — the choice being which side you would like to hear it from.