Tunnels : Sun In The Dark
Vietnam | Vietnamese, English subtitles
2025 | 126 Minutes
Director: Chuyen Bui Thac
Cast: Thu Anh Ho, Quang Tuan Ngo,
Cao Minh Nguyen, Hoa Thai
Well, here we are again – opening night of the Fantasia festival and Tunnels : Sun In The Dark, which was one of the most anticipated films around the Modern Free Press office, is among the opening films on the festivals opening night.
This year marks three decades of the festival. Thirty years. I can almost remember the day I accidently discovered the festival myself, while wandering about the city one day, and finding a bin full of programs outside of the Imperial cinema. The year was 1998, and I have attend the festival every year since – minus the covid years where I was forced to watch from home, and that just wasn’t the same.
See Also: Fragment at Fantasia Fest
Over the years, there have been a countless amount of films made about the Vietnam war, but the vast majority of those – or at least the many that I have seen anyway, have been from the American point of view. Tunnels, though, is from the perspective of the Viet Cong, and that was the single most factor that made me what to see this film when it was announced as part of this years Fantasia festival.
History says that the record books are written from the point of the victor, and while I won’t get into who won this conflict, American filmmakers certainly have run a monopoly on making the whole bloody affair into a franchise machine, profiteering on war as seems to be the popular motif in modern times. Sometimes, if not at all times, it is nice or at least interesting, to hear the tales told from the other side.
It is 1967 and Binh An Dong village, on the outskirts of Saigon, lies in ruin. The ground below it, though, teems with activity. A vast network of crudely bored tunnels spreads underneath the whole of Cu Chi district. There, a band of poorly equipped resistance fighters under the leadership of the weary, anxious Bay Theo keeps watch and prepares for an impending American attack. Complications arise, though.
Tu Dap, an outsider claiming a vague family link to the village, has been captured. His identity is in question, though his skill at improvising bombs is not. Despite her misgivings, the stern fighter Ba Huong finds herself drawn to him. Meanwhile, a team of intelligence officers has arrived on a vital, secret mission, and the Cu Chi guerrillas are tasked with safeguarding them through the hell their enemies are on the verge of unleashing.
Throughout, Tunnels shows great use of its sets within having to venture into full-blown war scenes very often. Instead, a large portion of the film is set in claustrophobic tunnels using camerawork that was actually shot in the real Cu Chi tunnels, offering a rare glimpse into what the Viet Cong endured during the twenty-one year long conflict. Yet, there is so much more to Tunnels than just another a war film – here, we find love interest, anti-trust and even wrong-doing among these underground dwellers.
Tunnels benefits from some great and well thought-out cinematic moments. Well shot while making great use of its limited time. While a good portion of the film, as the title suggests, is centered around life underground in the tunnels, there is of course moments of conflict and battle with the Americans that succeeds in showing what the young Viet Cong fighters were up against. Showing youth on both sides of the conflict and the tragic loss of young lives that is always the case in war.
Tunnels doesn’t try to glorify war. It aims to show the sadness and tragedy of it all. The loss of life and the destructiveness of it all. It brings a romantic and humane side into the picture, while showing the horrors and brutal nature of war. Moreover, it shows the ingenuity and creativeness the Viet Cong used to fight a much stronger army. The struggle to survive, and from the perspective of the Viet Cong, defend their home against an invading force. Politics aside.
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Once the dust had settled, I found myself very intrigued by the film. This is one that wants its audience to think, and moreover just to understand what the Viet Cong endured while fighting against an American powerhouse that was better prepared, better equipped and had more more manpower than they did. Again, politics aside, I found it very interesting to see the Vietnam war from the other side, so to speak. This is recommended viewing.
If this is what the festival has to offer on its first day, I can’t begin to express my excitement over what is to come over the next three weeks!
