The Scent Of Green Papaya

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The Scent of Green Papaya, a 1993 film, is Vietnamese–French Director Tran Anh Hung’s first feature film and first collaboration with the renowned Vietnamese Composer Ton That Tiet. The film starts in the early 1950's during the French Colonial Period of Vietnam, following the life of then ten year old Mui as she grows into a beautiful young woman in the 1960's, a period of increased US involvement in Vietnam. The extraordinarily observant Mui sees beauty in the smallest, most minute details. When the father of the household she works for dies, the family falls on hard times. Mui, now a young woman and played by director and writer Tran Anh Hung’s wife, Tran Nu Yen Khe, goes to work for a talented classical pianist, a childhood friend of her employer’s son. The pianist is handsome, sophisticated, and French Speaking with an expensive and lovely fiancee. The pianist starts teaching Mui to read and write as well as to comport herself as a lady. Mui is quietly and secretly in love with him. The film also stars: Thi Loc Truong, Anh Hoa Nguyen, Hoa Hoi Vuong, Ngoc Trung Tran, Vantha Talisman, Keo Souvannavong, Van Oanh Nguyen, Gerard Neth, Nhat Do, Thi Hai Vo, Thi Thanh Tra Nguyen, Lam Huy Bui, and Xuan Thu Nguyen. Music for the film was composed by Ton That Thiet, who subsequently composed music for the films Cyclo and Vertical Ray of the Sun. The Scent of the Green Papaya” had a very different mood than the previous films I have watched about Vietnam. The setting was in Saigon, Vietnam in 1951. It was very adequate in portraying the everyday life in Vietnam’s culture. The way food is prepared, relationships, the environment of the household and the clothing is examples of what I learned about the culture. When the film first started it was obvious that Mui (the little servant girl) was a very curious individual. She was examining her surroundings as she walked to

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