When the Tenth Month Comes

When the Tenth Month Comes (Vietnamese: Bao giờ cho đến tháng Mười) is the first Vietnamese film to be shown in the West after the Vietnam war.^[1] The film primarily centers around the misery of a young woman whose husband has died in the war. Despite the peaceful rural setting, the film is shot in black and white illustrating the oppressive and suffocating atmosphere of war. The theme of sadness and the inevitability of death dominates the film, uncovering a painful daily reality - a living imprint of Vietnam's history on the common people.

Since the actress Lê Vân [vi] played the title role of this film, her name has been closely linked to the character Duyên, the wife of the sacrificed fighter, a symbol of the fate of thousands, even millions of Vietnamese women in the face of war. Minh wanted to represent and embody this figure of the soldier's companion but also show the difficulties experienced by peasants in their daily life during the war^[2]

The film was important in establishing the career of director Dang Nhat Minh internationally and it was also subject to multiple governmental reviews.^[3]