Dschungelzeit

Hanoi in 1949: the French military police hunt a deserter to the backdrop of Christmas songs. He is rescued by the communist resistance movement, which assists him in crossing the Mekong River, on the opposite side of which are located the so-called liberated territories. Armin, who in fact deserted during the Second World War to join the French resistance, has strong reservations against German militarism and thus resolves to remain on the ground, even though the newly-founded GDR is in the process of withdrawing troops from what was once known as Indochina. To support the Vietnamese he gathers a propaganda unit aimed at encouraging members of the Foreign Legion to desert, and yet the operation is hindered by the lack of a common culture and language.

This debut German-Vietnamese co-production, shot in Vietnam in 1987, is more a non-partisan ensemble film than war dramatisation, enriched by the performances of its German and Vietnamese protagonists, as well as its beautiful landscapes. WMH