Diên Biên Phú

1992 [FRENCH]

Action / Drama / History / War

4
IMDb Rating 6.2/10 10 1261 1.3K

uniform vietnam defeat indochina jungle trapped

Plot summary

Vietnam, 1954. An American reporter finds himself in the middle of the battle of Điện Biên Phủ, between the French army and the Vietminh.

Director

Pierre Schoendoerffer Photo
Pierre Schoendoerffer

Top cast

Charles Fathy Photo
Charles Fathy as Rat de la Nam Youn
Donald Pleasence Photo
Donald Pleasence as Howard Simpson
Ludmila Mikaël Photo
Ludmila Mikaël as Béatrice Vergnes
Sava Lolov Photo
Sava Lolov as Thade Korzeniowski
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
1.19 GB
1280*544
French 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
24 fps
2 hr 12 min
Seeds 1
2.2 GB
1920*816
French 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
24 fps
2 hr 12 min
Seeds 21

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by WarMovieCollector 7 / 10

French war movie told in the style of a DocuDrama

My 2nd viewing of the movie in 1080p quality with slightly better translated English subtitles. The battles scenes are very realistic. I read that the film was made by Pierre Schoenderffer, a former French army cameraman who requested to be dropped on Dien Bien Phu even though the outcome of the battle was pretty much decided, to document the battle for later generations. Unfortunately the films he made during the battle were lost or destroyed, so he made this movie. The film is beautifully shot. The cinematography is amazing. Captivating war drama from start to finish, almost on par with Saving Private Ryan.
Reviewed by nabokov95 5 / 10

Mau len, Mau len - or maybe not

I came to this movie after reading two detailed military history books about the battle. That proved essential because I don't think I would have learned very much about it from watching the film. For the positives: technically, the level of detail was excellent. With the exception of using M41 Walker Bulldog tanks instead of M24 Chaffee tanks, the equipment, weaponry, uniforms, badges etc. Were authentic. The timeline of the battle and specific incidents were perfect. So why did I come away feeling it was such a missed opportunity? Dien Bien Phu was famously referred to as France's "Verdun in the jungle". On the French side, French, Vietnamese, Algerian, African and other soldiers, able bodied and wounded, slept in water filled trenches by day and fought, often hand to hand in isolated actions, to protect them from dusk until dawn as the Vietminh launched repeated human wave attacks across ground that had been churned to mud through artillery fire. For both sides victory was a chance to gain advantage at the Geneva Peace Conference which had begun on 26 April and would only set the stage for the larger war that followed. Dien Bien Phu fell on 7 May and the Conference concluded on 21 July. That was the historical and political reality. Unbelievably in this film the Vietminh are invisible until the closing scenes of the French surrender, when they appear by the thousand. That any fighting is going on at all can only be inferred by the mass graves of French and allied soldiers, the overcrowded "field hospitals", the regular sound of incoming and outgoing artillery as soldiers sit in their trenches and talk, or listen to last radio messages that yet another position is being over run. For a war film showing the futility of ordering soldiers to risk their lives so their leaders can gain a political advantage I'd recommend Pork Chop Hill (1959). This could have so easily been so much more.
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