The Silver Screen against the Red Screen
Communism, that malignant force which seeks to throttle away the forces of liberty and of tradition. It seeps into every vein of our society, like a poison, corrupting and destroying the flesh that it touches, until nothing is left but a diseased corpse. Against this plague our valiant forces fight for Vietnam, for liberty, and for Bao Dai's palaces and wine cel- err, I mean, for our noble leadership! On the field of battle, our glorious soldiers are defeating Communist forces in inconceivable numbers, fighting against the odds for Vietnam and for the ideals of the French Union. The Communists, creatures of the shadows, cannot stand against our great army, and they will be forced to retreat to their abodes like the rats and cockroaches that they are.
But, unfortunately, many Vietnamese are seduced by the sweet and treacherous lies that the honey-tongued Communists spread. In the rural villages, where there is absolutely no problem whatsoever with land distribution, Communists encourage villagers to join the communist cause by promising them redistributed land. They spread lies about our leadership and its supposed corruption and decadence. They denounce us as puppets of the French, when it is rather they that are the puppets of the Chinese. They undermine the traditional values of our country. Time and time again, while our soldiers win upon the field of battle, we are stabbed in the back by insufficient support from the farmers.
Generously, the government has already embarked on measures which intend to deal with some of these illusionary sources for peasant discontent, such as land reform, and is cracking down on some of the sources of Communist propaganda. But this alone is not enough in this war where our enemies have so little regard for the truth. To fight their barrage of lies which are directed against us, we must develop our own methods to bring the truth to the poor Vietnamese people who are suffering and confused under these Communist illusions.
As a result, the Vietnamese government is creating the Service cinématographique rural, intending to reach the small villages in the countryside with cinemas in order to display pro-government propaganda and appropriate films to rural peasants who otherwise have no access to the truth, so overwhelmed they are by Bolshevik propaganda. In larger villages, where the population makes it self-sustaining, conventional cinemas will be established and utilized to display movies to the local peasantry and towns-folk that accord with government objectives. However, many villages are too small to enable the support of such a cinema, and so hence mobile projector units will be set up. Projector units will tour around the countryside to rural villages, where cinemas with screens suitable for night-time viewing in the outside, thus enabling the entire population to watch, will be established. Mobile movie theatres will also be established to accompany army units to improve their morale. Propaganda boats, utilized on the many rivers of Vietnam, will be utilized to carry mobile movie theatres, performance artists, newspapers, small libraries, newspapers, and of course government agents patrolling to determine the loyalty of various villages.
The cinematographic service comes alongside other projects, such as travelling troupes of performers putting on plays and presentations that reinforce much the same themes, as additional leaflet and propaganda campaigns, but cinema has a special power. For these rural peasants, films are something which they can easily understand and carry an excellent impressionable effect on them. They furthermore demonstrate the technical power, power, and modernity of the regime, defeating Bolshevik charges that the Vietnamese government is backwards, inefficient, and incapable of leading forwards the nation.
Beyond the technical aspect of this program in regards to distributing a greater amount of cinemas and mobile cinema units to reach the peasantry who are viewed as most at risk of Vietnamese propaganda, some note should also be made of the content which is intended to be displayed. Of course, as with any government backed film initiative, some of it is straight up propaganda : videos of the glorious victory of our soldiers over the dastardly communists, communist crimes such as butchering innocent peasants and violating women, killing innocent children and mutilating survivors, heroic depictions of our leadership, hard-working citizens manufacturing weapons to support our cause, the whole array of propaganda that constitutes a regular war effort. Both video footage and animation (especially for children), will be deployed. In addition to many tragic and serious films, some will be humorous, showing the laughable incompetence of the Communists before our glorious forces.
But this on its own would be to miss the tremendous advantages that the silver screen gives us in a cultural war against communism. We must also inspire our people with a love of our traditions and our lands, and a taste for anti-communist values. These do not require films which are designed purely for the purposes of propaganda : all they require is to showcase the truth in good artistic tradition, to bring the People onto our side.
Consider a following film, which portrays a farmer who loyally obeys confucian values, and who profits from this in life. His neighbors meanwhile, fall to the greed of materialism and atheism. While not being propaganda per se, it instills the regime's favored ideology, and helps to inoculate our people against the communist threat. Bao Dai himself, who viewed at one point the Russian film Alexander Nevski, has inquired about the potential of making a film based on it devoted to the Trưng Sisters, and their struggle against the Chinese. Of course, such a film will make obvious linkages between the modern day Communists (who are backed by the Chinese), and the Chinese, traditional Vietnamese values as opposed to Communist values, and careful attempts will be made to ensure that it is projecting a film portraying a resistance to Chinese influence and culture, rather than as being a film which might inadvertently advocate for independence from the French. Doubtless, it will be a glorious technical feat, as huge amounts of resources will be invested into it. A variety of war films will be created showing the stories of individual soldiers.
A number of French film directors and technical agents will be encouraged to come to Vietnam, to produce films which fulfill such a role and which help in the struggle against Communist propaganda. Portraying life in traditional villages and valorizing traditional values, as compared to Communist atheist materialism, they will be soldiers on the front line against the Communist corruption of traditional Vietnam. Developing a Vietnamese film industry will help to enable us to reach Vietnamese peasants, since many of the French directors will probably lack the appropriate cultural understanding to appeal to the peasantry.
But, unfortunately, many Vietnamese are seduced by the sweet and treacherous lies that the honey-tongued Communists spread. In the rural villages, where there is absolutely no problem whatsoever with land distribution, Communists encourage villagers to join the communist cause by promising them redistributed land. They spread lies about our leadership and its supposed corruption and decadence. They denounce us as puppets of the French, when it is rather they that are the puppets of the Chinese. They undermine the traditional values of our country. Time and time again, while our soldiers win upon the field of battle, we are stabbed in the back by insufficient support from the farmers.
Generously, the government has already embarked on measures which intend to deal with some of these illusionary sources for peasant discontent, such as land reform, and is cracking down on some of the sources of Communist propaganda. But this alone is not enough in this war where our enemies have so little regard for the truth. To fight their barrage of lies which are directed against us, we must develop our own methods to bring the truth to the poor Vietnamese people who are suffering and confused under these Communist illusions.
As a result, the Vietnamese government is creating the Service cinématographique rural, intending to reach the small villages in the countryside with cinemas in order to display pro-government propaganda and appropriate films to rural peasants who otherwise have no access to the truth, so overwhelmed they are by Bolshevik propaganda. In larger villages, where the population makes it self-sustaining, conventional cinemas will be established and utilized to display movies to the local peasantry and towns-folk that accord with government objectives. However, many villages are too small to enable the support of such a cinema, and so hence mobile projector units will be set up. Projector units will tour around the countryside to rural villages, where cinemas with screens suitable for night-time viewing in the outside, thus enabling the entire population to watch, will be established. Mobile movie theatres will also be established to accompany army units to improve their morale. Propaganda boats, utilized on the many rivers of Vietnam, will be utilized to carry mobile movie theatres, performance artists, newspapers, small libraries, newspapers, and of course government agents patrolling to determine the loyalty of various villages.
The cinematographic service comes alongside other projects, such as travelling troupes of performers putting on plays and presentations that reinforce much the same themes, as additional leaflet and propaganda campaigns, but cinema has a special power. For these rural peasants, films are something which they can easily understand and carry an excellent impressionable effect on them. They furthermore demonstrate the technical power, power, and modernity of the regime, defeating Bolshevik charges that the Vietnamese government is backwards, inefficient, and incapable of leading forwards the nation.
Beyond the technical aspect of this program in regards to distributing a greater amount of cinemas and mobile cinema units to reach the peasantry who are viewed as most at risk of Vietnamese propaganda, some note should also be made of the content which is intended to be displayed. Of course, as with any government backed film initiative, some of it is straight up propaganda : videos of the glorious victory of our soldiers over the dastardly communists, communist crimes such as butchering innocent peasants and violating women, killing innocent children and mutilating survivors, heroic depictions of our leadership, hard-working citizens manufacturing weapons to support our cause, the whole array of propaganda that constitutes a regular war effort. Both video footage and animation (especially for children), will be deployed. In addition to many tragic and serious films, some will be humorous, showing the laughable incompetence of the Communists before our glorious forces.
But this on its own would be to miss the tremendous advantages that the silver screen gives us in a cultural war against communism. We must also inspire our people with a love of our traditions and our lands, and a taste for anti-communist values. These do not require films which are designed purely for the purposes of propaganda : all they require is to showcase the truth in good artistic tradition, to bring the People onto our side.
Consider a following film, which portrays a farmer who loyally obeys confucian values, and who profits from this in life. His neighbors meanwhile, fall to the greed of materialism and atheism. While not being propaganda per se, it instills the regime's favored ideology, and helps to inoculate our people against the communist threat. Bao Dai himself, who viewed at one point the Russian film Alexander Nevski, has inquired about the potential of making a film based on it devoted to the Trưng Sisters, and their struggle against the Chinese. Of course, such a film will make obvious linkages between the modern day Communists (who are backed by the Chinese), and the Chinese, traditional Vietnamese values as opposed to Communist values, and careful attempts will be made to ensure that it is projecting a film portraying a resistance to Chinese influence and culture, rather than as being a film which might inadvertently advocate for independence from the French. Doubtless, it will be a glorious technical feat, as huge amounts of resources will be invested into it. A variety of war films will be created showing the stories of individual soldiers.
A number of French film directors and technical agents will be encouraged to come to Vietnam, to produce films which fulfill such a role and which help in the struggle against Communist propaganda. Portraying life in traditional villages and valorizing traditional values, as compared to Communist atheist materialism, they will be soldiers on the front line against the Communist corruption of traditional Vietnam. Developing a Vietnamese film industry will help to enable us to reach Vietnamese peasants, since many of the French directors will probably lack the appropriate cultural understanding to appeal to the peasantry.
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