“Binh Tay Dai nguyen soai” (The Binh Tay marshal), one of Vietnam’s
few historical TV dramas on national hero Truong Dinh, has officially
aired on HTV9 from May 29.
The 40-episode drama,
which airs on HTV9 at 5:30pm every day, has gone through a two-year
bumpy journey, according to Tuoitrenews.
Over 5,000
actors, including 4,800 extras, with 100 of them being foreigners, and
50 battle horses, took part in the drama to depict Truong Dinh
(1820-1864), who is credited for reclaiming some major areas to expand
the country southward and walking away from the Nguyen reign to lead the
resistance against the French troops in the 1860s before killing
himself to avoid being captured by the enemy.
One of
the difficulties the crew faced was scouting for settings. They spent up
to eight months traveling to 10 provinces across the country to search
for and re-create old-time sets.
The awaited drama
boasts many eye-catching scenes, from explosions, men being devoured by
crocodiles and stalked by tigers and French battleships’ forays on
Vietnamese seas.
Ho Chi Minh City Television spent
over 16 billion VND (769,231 USD) on the drama, slightly twice as much
as the investment for a modern psychological one.
“Historical filmmakers are at a serious disadvantage, as three or four
modern psychological dramas can be produced within a year, while this
drama takes almost two years to finish. Besides, the revenue earned by
historical dramas cannot be compared to modern films, while they are
usually targets of negative criticisms,” Phan Hoang, the drama director,
noted.
However, he insisted he will continue to make historical dramas as the genre gives him an outlet for his artistic creativity.
Most
Vietnamese films now focus on modern psychological, social aspects
while evading this more challenging genre, said the director.-VNA