Investment for this movie, named “Don’t Burn, It Already Has Fire Inside” come from the State budget, totaling over VND10 billion (over $588,000).

In mid October 2007, the first scenes of the film, which is based on Dang Thuy Tram’s Diary, is were shot in New Jersey and Texas, the US.

Dang Thuy Tram’s first-hand account of the war reveals her inner most emotions, ideals and struggles with love while she worked at a field hospital in central Quang Ngai province during the American War. Tram had moved from Hanoi to the central province of Quang Ngai’s Duc Pho district to contribute to the war effort. She was killed by US troops in June 1970 at the age of 27.

When American soldiers came across Tram’s body, they noticed a backpack lying next to her. Inside they found her two journals, both of which went home with one of the soldiers, Frederic Whitehurst.

Thirty-five years later, in 2005, he returned copies of the journals to Tram’s family, who in turn decided to make them into a book which became an immediate page turner with Vietnamese readers.

More than 400,000 copies sold in less than one year – a very high number in a country where book publication of several thousand copies is considered a success.

Director Dang Nhat Minh is the first person to pitch a movie version to Dang Thuy Tram’s family. He and his crew took a trip to Duc Pho district to meet people who worked with Tram during the war.

They also visited the place where Tram was killed 35 years ago and hope to restore the field hospital, said Minh.

“The movie will have some fictional details, but it will mainly comply with reality because the diary and its writer’s life are very interesting,” he said.

The movie is produced by the Vietnam Cinematography’s Association’s Hodafilm.

Source: VietNamNet Bridge