Tanks smash palace gates in re-enactment of fall of Saigon
HANOI - Filmmakers in Vietnam have sent tanks crashing through the
gates of the former presidential palace in Saigon in a
re-enactment of the city's fall to communist North
Vietnamese forces in 1975.
Nine tanks roared down the streets of the bustling southern
metropolis, now known as Ho Chi Minh City, yesterday,
before two burst through the gates of the grand complex,
later renamed the reunification palace.
Filming on ''Giai Phong Sai Gon'' or ''Liberate Saigon'',
depicting the final days of the South Vietnamese regime,
began in early 2001.
Post production on the movie, which is budgeted at more
than $US800,000 ($A1.4 million), is expected to commence
shortly, but no release date has been set, said Nguyen Thi
Hong Ngat, director of the state-run National Film Company.
''The film has been commmisioned for many years but it has
suffered lengthy delays because of difficulties in recreating
scenes from Ho Chi Minh City since much as changed from
the end of the war.''
Difficulties in obtaining Vietnam War-era equipment and
other logistical issues have also delayed proceedings, she
added.
Around 50 principal actors have taken part in the epic film,
while hundreds of others were drafted in for minor roles and
crowd scenes.
The campaign to ''liberate'' the South Vietnamese capital
took just 55 days but it ended decades of war in Vietnam.
Filming began last month on a Chinese-Vietnamese
collaboration depicting the life of revered Communist Party
founding father Ho Chi Minh and his ordeal in a Hong Kong
jail in the early 1930s.
Agence France Presse - January 10, 2003.
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