Indochine, part 1

Respond to the following assessment of Indochine by Panivong Norindr: "Critical and popular acclaim notwithstanding, Wargnier’s representation of Indochina exerts a dangerous fascination precisely because it brings visual pleasure without questioning or subverting any preconceived ideas about French colonial rule in Southeast Asia. Indochine merely displays beautiful images and should only be remembered as a symptom of the current French fad for things exotic." Do you agree? Why or why not?

I agree with Panivong Norindr’s criticism that the film Indochine should not be taken as a literal representation of events. This portrayal of the colonial French as kindly benefactors who only punished the colonists when they were disrespectful is not an accurate description of the French colonial period. Indochine looks at history through a gauzy covering. Wargnier vividly illustrates “something bittersweet and decadent about the dying days of [the] colonial regime”. (Roger Ebert) The past is fondly remembered without the substance of reality.

The allusion to a mother-child relationship between France and Vietnam may be accurate from the French perspective but the Vietnamese were never satisfied with their subjugation by the French. The film chooses to ignore this fact.

Rita Kempley suggests that the consignment of Camille’s story to Eliane confirms that this is a tale of history as the French want to see it, not an accurate description of the period. She writes that “Director Regis Wargnier seems far more interested in what the white folks are doing back on the plantation. As with other potentially enlivening events, we hear about it from the coolly aristocratic Eliane. [This is] a form of cinematic colonialism”.

The revisionist history in this movie validates Norindr’s contention that Indochine is a beautifully filmed work of fiction. The backdrop of Indochina and colonial French rule is merely a prop, not an accurate depiction. Norindr’s fear is that moviegoers will choose to accept Wargnier’s version of French colonialism seems justified.