The cast of the TV series, Nhung ngay he xanh (Green summer days), on location.

Vietnam’s youth leaders turn cold over the first episodes of the ‘Green summer days’ TV series about student volunteers.

The director had promised the series called Nhung ngay he xanh, (Green summer days) would show the students’ zeal and pride to be selected for the summer holiday program in which groups of students assist poor farmers and ethnic people in rural and mountainous areas.

Instead students and youth groups across the country have blasted the show saying the five episodes screened so far depict the Mua he xanh (Green summer) program volunteers as ungrateful wingers who don’t really want to be there.

“Mua he xanh has been operating for the past 15 years and has wholehearted support from the entire community and a vast social impact. It has been and continues to be the pride of Vietnamese youth. All participants display maturity in their thoughts, ideals and life skills,” Phan Van Mai, secretary of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union Central Committee said.

“The first episodes have sparked public outcry, especially among youths who participated in the campaign, the families who are helped by the youths and the localities where the volunteers work.

“Therefore the Secretary Board requested the HCMC Television to stop airing the remaining episodes until revision is complete,” Mai said.

Facts wrong

One of the complaints about the series is it has got its facts wrong.

Firstly the dispatching ceremony in the first episode was far too small and didn’t show the excitement of the occasion. The ceremony in real life is the “soul” of the campaign full of music and applause.

Secondly the series showed that the volunteers were confused about what group they were in and even who their leader was. The Mua he xanh campaign is actually well prepared and members have several meetings to get to know one another and discuss regulations.

The series continues to get it wrong by showing the students arriving at the rural properties and having no idea what they are meant to do, but volunteers are actually taken there prior to summer to plan their activities.

Many former volunteers were insulted when TV characters complained about their host’s humble houses and meals and stole locals’ mangos.

These are taboos for Mua he xanh participants, who are trained to behave properly, leave good impressions and forge bonds with local people. University students who have done the program know that it is considered a great honor to be selected as a volunteer.

In the series, however, anyone can join the campaign, from a drunkard, a gambler, a thief, to a rich girl who is forced to join the campaign by her parents who “bribe” her leader to make her stay more comfortable.

The series characters’ motivations for joining the campaign are equally appalling: avoiding work and scoring bonuses at school, but in reality students must have a volunteering spirit and good ethics to be selected.

“The film is absolutely impractical. Not everyone can participate in the campaign, only those with skills, volunteering spirit and good ethics are eligible for the campaign,” said Nguyen Van Minh, head of the propaganda and education department of the Ho Chi Minh City branch of the Youth Union.

“Bribing leaders to make one’s stay during the campaign more comfortable is absolute nonsense. It stains the campaign’s reputation.”

The first five episodes have already aired and HTV’s management board and film department, headed by Nguyen Anh Xuan, have approved 25 episodes.

According to Xuan, only the first five episodes are controversial – from the sixth episode on there aren’t any distorted details about youth volunteers.

He said the episodes were not made to offend – only to entertain and have interesting twists in the plot.

“We didn’t try to tarnish the campaign’s reputation, the series is about youths’ volunteering spirit. Director Xuan Phuoc put in a lot of inappropriate details because he doesn’t know enough about the campaign. We consider this as a big lesson in filmmaking.”

“If the film had a different title and wasn’t about how 11 members of squad 9 of Economics University spent 30 days during the campaign, it would be totally fictional and would attract less criticism,” Xuan said.

But Nguyen Quoc Phong, chairman of the HCMC Students’ Association doesn’t agree. “After watching five first episodes of the series, we don’t agree with how youth volunteers express themselves in the film,” he said.

“Mua he xanh is a professionally organized campaign; the preparations to send thousands of students to provinces and Laos are thoroughly made. Contrary to what is described in the film, participants know their roles and responsibility during the campaign well.”

Phong said the series may be meant to be fiction but it has offended a lot of people so he asked the HCMC Television and the film company on May 25 to ensure the remaining episodes reflect youths’ “volunteering spirit,” Tuoi Tre newspaper reported.

On May 26, the company that made the film, Nhat Tam Lasta Film Co., sent an apology to the Steering Committee of HCMC Polytechnique University’s Youth Union for displaying the university’s sign in the series.

The university’s youth union had complained of the inclusion of the sign saying that it reflected badly on their Mua he xanh volunteers.

Source: TN, TT