Sons lose their fathers, and miss their fathers. In Cyclo, the young man, who earns his living and supports his family by driving a rental cyclo (bicycle-taxi), is a child without parents. In Cyclo, the poet is a child that cannot be accepted by his father. In Cyclo, the retarded son of a widow is a symbol that by which the widow connects in spirit with his father, her dead lover. Under the tangle of missing, recollection of, and conflicting with fathers, Cyclo shows sons going through the shadow of fathers to rediscover themselves.
Father is a symbol of a family, that, when amplified, becomes a nation. In an article "no longer in a future heaven," the author McClintock mentions an idea: mother represents the history of a nation. However, in Cyclo, father (male) symbolizes the history and means where a son comes from. Leaving Vietnam since childhood, the director Tran is detached from Vietnam¡¦s history. But he still is a Vietnamese, because he comes from his father, a Vietnamese. However, to some degree, he is a child without father the history and memory of the Vietnamese past. To Tran, Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City, and the people in there seem familiar, but are strange, actually. Maybe this can provide one reason as to why Tran uses the characters to spy on people in the streets of Ho Chi Minh City through the frames of windows or lenses. In some situations, spying means alienation-- an ambiguous mood about being eager for something but afraid to get close.
In my view, the women characters in Cyclo have two meanings. First, woman as mother is the one who protects the father's heritage. The widow is an example. She does her best to take care of her son, because in her mind, the son comes from his father and is a reflection of his father, even though he is retarded. The young man's sister, a virgin, represents the sacred image of a nation, which is cannot be invaded. Therefore, when she is assaulted, her man, the poet, rages to kill the attacker.
The characters in Cyclo do not have a name. However, this does not stop audiences to recognize them, or furthermore, to identify with them. Through gazing at their lives, behaviors, and psychological reactions, the young man could be you and me, and the poet could be anyone. They represent different types of people. The young man is a lost lamb. He at once identifies another father-image, the poet. But finally, he knows he is wrong. The poet represents contradictions. His present conflicts with the past (father), and his mentality clashes with his behaviors. If this film is allegorical of a collective loss of innocence of a nation, those characters reflect and depict Vietnamese situations from the director's point of view.
The end of the film shows the young man carrying his grandfather, elder sister and younger sister with a cyclo in a crowded street of Ho Chi Minh City. Sunshine brightly sprinkles on them, and they look very happy. The ending scene shows that through all the chaos, the young man finally rediscovers and re-builds himself in the present. Separated from the past, a son can still live well. Maybe to the Vietnamese, past is past; what is important is the present and future. To Tran, what is important is self-identified.
This is a movie that I strongly recommend.
Father is a symbol of a family, that, when amplified, becomes a nation. In an article "no longer in a future heaven," the author McClintock mentions an idea: mother represents the history of a nation. However, in Cyclo, father (male) symbolizes the history and means where a son comes from. Leaving Vietnam since childhood, the director Tran is detached from Vietnam¡¦s history. But he still is a Vietnamese, because he comes from his father, a Vietnamese. However, to some degree, he is a child without father the history and memory of the Vietnamese past. To Tran, Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City, and the people in there seem familiar, but are strange, actually. Maybe this can provide one reason as to why Tran uses the characters to spy on people in the streets of Ho Chi Minh City through the frames of windows or lenses. In some situations, spying means alienation-- an ambiguous mood about being eager for something but afraid to get close.
In my view, the women characters in Cyclo have two meanings. First, woman as mother is the one who protects the father's heritage. The widow is an example. She does her best to take care of her son, because in her mind, the son comes from his father and is a reflection of his father, even though he is retarded. The young man's sister, a virgin, represents the sacred image of a nation, which is cannot be invaded. Therefore, when she is assaulted, her man, the poet, rages to kill the attacker.
The characters in Cyclo do not have a name. However, this does not stop audiences to recognize them, or furthermore, to identify with them. Through gazing at their lives, behaviors, and psychological reactions, the young man could be you and me, and the poet could be anyone. They represent different types of people. The young man is a lost lamb. He at once identifies another father-image, the poet. But finally, he knows he is wrong. The poet represents contradictions. His present conflicts with the past (father), and his mentality clashes with his behaviors. If this film is allegorical of a collective loss of innocence of a nation, those characters reflect and depict Vietnamese situations from the director's point of view.
The end of the film shows the young man carrying his grandfather, elder sister and younger sister with a cyclo in a crowded street of Ho Chi Minh City. Sunshine brightly sprinkles on them, and they look very happy. The ending scene shows that through all the chaos, the young man finally rediscovers and re-builds himself in the present. Separated from the past, a son can still live well. Maybe to the Vietnamese, past is past; what is important is the present and future. To Tran, what is important is self-identified.
This is a movie that I strongly recommend.