Robert Vaeza (R) talks with a local at his old residence in the northern province of Yen Bai.

A French filmmaker’s new documentary explores the scars of colonialism through the story of a Vietnamese-French boy ripped from the arms of his mother in Yen Bai and taken to France.

After the 1954 Geneva Agreements, the French army wrested control of thousands of Vietnamese-French children from their Vietnamese families and brought them back to France. This is the beginning of the story Rouyer tells in the 90-minute documentary Né sous Z (Orphans).

The film focuses on the story of Robert Vaeza, who was born to a Vietnamese mother and French father in 1945 in Yen Bai Province, Vietnam. After Geneva, he too was shipped off to France.

Upon arriving in France, the army put Vaeza and others like him in a special school, where they were raised until the age of 20. At the school, Vaeza said he was often punished for his poor French pronunciation. He said his father’s family acknowledged him but never accepted that he was a true member of the family. Thus, they shunned him and he shunned them, he said.

After leaving the school, he was out on his own with very little education. He worked as a hired laborer and went from odd job to odd job until finally settling into a low position at a car factory. He worked there for 40 years and saved up enough money to open his own mechanic shop.

He had never traveled to Vietnam, and never had the interest to do so, until three years ago, when in an astounding twist of fate, he came across a letter his mother, named Tran Thi Khiem, had written in an archieve storing French war antiques. He said he had the immediate burning desire to go back to Vietnam and find his mother.

Vaeza settled things in France and cut out for Vietnam this year.

Since July 10, Vaeza has been traveling Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Yen Bai looking for his mother. This trip is the crux of the film’s emotional and dramatic tension. Rouyer and her crew have been following him and filming his experiences.

According to Tuoi Tre, Vaeza is continuing his quest to Buon Ma Thuot, Phan Thiet and Dong Nai. He said there was little hope he would find his mother, but even if she had died he said he still wanted to burn incense for her.

Vaeza said the trip was a journey of self-redemption.

Truth, colonialism

Before Né sous Z, Rouyer made a name for herself on the international short film festival circuit. Her works have been praised for dealing deftly with mankind’s innermost turmoil. Her latest short film, Dix-huit ans (18 Years Old), tells the story of an 18-year-old girl, Morgane, as she grows up with a single parent.

As a former law professor, Rouyer said she has always been concerned with truth and honesty.

She told Thanh Nien that the documentary was the genre that allowed her to tell life stories in the most honest way.

Rouyer said her works, which she often makes for French national TV station F2, were less poetic and philosophical than cinema. But she said that was not the point.

“I always put all my own ideas and soul into my films. I only hope that the film’s quintessence, its terminal problem and my ideas will be understood,” said Rouyer.

She said there was little funding for documentary films in France so documentarians had to emphasize the quality of their work above all else.

“The film’s quality has to be its marketing.”

In 2006, Rouyer spent her own money to shoot a few scenes from the documentary project to show investors.

“The more interesting they found the work, the more money they invested, and that’s the point,” she said.

Rouyer said that in the end, Né sous Z is about French colonialism and a shameful past that many people were trying to forget. She said Vaesza was the perfect symbol of the period and she hoped his painful story could inspire both change and hope.

While she also said she thought the film would make many French people angry, she was optimistic about the overall effect if could have:

“By looking at the past, we can approach a brighter future.”

Né sous Z will air on F2 in February next year.

Reported by Cat Khue – Ha Huong (TN, TT)