Comments by Wong Lung Hsiang

Directors: Jonathan Foo, Nguyen Phan Quang Binh
Writing Credits: Ngyuen Quang Sang, Thu Bon, Ngyuen Duy, Wayne Karlin
Cast: Pham Chi Bao, Ta Ngoc Bao, Ngo Quang Hai
Genre: Drama
Country: Singapore, Vietnam
Language: Vietnamese
Year Released: 2002
Runtime: 96 min

Even though this film is half-directed by a Singaporean, it has incorporated all the elements that a "typical" Vietnamese director might have included into this film were he/she to have handled the subject matter alone. This happens to be the first time a film about the Vietnam War is made by a Vietnamese. There have, however, been previous attempts by the Vietnamese in making films about the aftermath of the war, comprising mandatory melodrama, mandatory heartwarming comradeship, mandatory comic relief ... (well, am I talking about Hollywood?). The storyline in Song of the Stork is in fact very compelling, and is based on true events. But it is sort of wasted in this epic scale docudrama, because of the conventional execution and highly flawed editing. Anyway, after watching so many American-made Vietnam war-themed films, I would like to borrow rain Bard's comment on Gaza Strip for Song of the Stork, ... "not for a fair view, but for a balanced view." Anyway, Song of the Stork only lambasts the South Vietnamese Government while the US is (almost) spared.