Enfance orageuse
(Tuoi Tho Du Doi)

Nguyen Vinh Son’s first film is the adaptation of a novel of the same title published in different parts that won its author, Phung Quan, the Award for Children’s literature in his country. The action is set in Hué in 1946, where Mung, a poor twelve year-old boy who helps his mother earn a living selling bowls of soup to the soldiers, secretly aspires to join the team of scouts that will form the National Guard. For that he must rise to many challenges. In a realistic and epic style, Tuoi Tho Du Doi is an example of a story of initiation connected to the country’s history. 45 years after the facts, amateur actors play the characters and the real situations the novel was based on. JB