For a city the size of Ho Chi Minh City, there are surprisingly few major outlets for cultural performances. There are a number of small theaters, where smaller companies or groups visiting from the provinces perform. The
Opera House, Lam Son Square (tel: (08) 825 1563), has regular performances and occasional shows by international classical artists. The large
Hoa Binh Theater, next to the Quoc Tu Pagoda in District 10 (tel: (08) 865 3353/5199), has a few small theaters in the complex and may have a number of different shows in one night. The
Gia Dinh Theater, 475 Bach Dang,
Binh Thanh District (tel: (08) 841 2045), puts on minority music or dance shows and the
Ben Thanh Theater, 6 Mac Dinh Chi, District 1 (tel: (08) 823 1652), hosts drama from visiting groups. There is no central ticket agency to purchase tickets for performances and this has to be done in person at the relevant venue. Details of some shows can be found in
The Guide, published monthly by the
Vietnam Economic Times (website:
www.vneconomy.com.vn).
Music: Vietnamese music is somewhat discordant to the Western ear but excellent performances are held nightly in some of the restaurants.
Vietnam House, 91/3 Dong Khoi (tel: (08) 829 1623), and
Blue Ginger, 37 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia (tel: (08) 829 8676), are good examples. Occasional performances are held at the
Conservatory of Music, 112 Nguyen Du in District 3 (tel: (08) 822 5841).
Theater: Vietnam is famous for its water puppets and the
Thang Long Water Puppet Theater in Hanoi regularly tour worldwide. Ho Chi Minh City has its own makeshift water puppet theater, the
Ho Chi Minh City Puppet Band, 28 Vo Van Tan, District 3 (tel: (08) 930 3496), with daily performances at 0900 and 1400. The
Opera House (tel: (08) 825 1563), on Lam Son Square, District 1, has regular dance, music and acrobatic performances.
Dance: Dance shows are less popular in Vietnam than in Thailand or Cambodia but performances can be seen at some of the restaurants throughout the city as well as at some of the theaters mentioned above. There is a particularly good show during dinner at the
Cung Dinh Restaurant (tel: (08) 829 2185) in the
Rex Hotel.
Binh Quoi Tourist Village (tel: (08) 899 1831), just outside the city on the Saigon River, has nightly dance shows, the highlight of which is a re-enactment of a minority wedding.
Film: Ho Chi Minh City has a few cinemas but only two show English-language films. These are
CLB Phim Tu Lieu, 212 Ly Chinh Thang, District 3 (tel: (08) 846 8883), and
Diamond Cinema, 4th Floor, Diamond Plaza, 14 Le Duan (tel: (08) 822 7897).
Only a handful of films for the international market have been filmed in Vietnam and one of these was the acclaimed film
Cyclo (1995). Directed by the French-educated Tran Anh Hung, it is a brutal portrayal of Ho Chi Minh City’s streets in the early 1980s. By the same director is the well-received film
Scent of the Green Papaya (1994), which is filmed in France but is about a pre-war Vietnamese/Chinese family’s decadent lifestyle in Saigon. The first American film to be made in Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh City since the war was
Three Seasons (1999), directed by Vietnamese-American Tony Bui. The film describes the emergence of Ho Chi Minh City and its people from the post-Vietnam war period and won awards all over the world. Filmed in Ho Chi Minh City in 2001 and released in 2002 is Graham Greene’s
The Quiet American, directed by Phillip Noyce and the first Hollywood film to be made in the country.
Literary Notes: Ho Chi Minh City has appeared as the backdrop for a number of books because of its rich French colonial and wartime history. Perhaps the most famous is
The Quiet American (1955) by Graham Greene - the story of an American helping to establish a Third Force, while the French fight against the Vietminh. Greene’s novel was written as a result of his years spent in Saigon. Anthony Grey’s 1982 novel, Saigon, relates the story of Joseph Sherman who arrived in the city as a teenager in 1925 and, drawn back again and again, finally left on the last helicopter out in 1975. This epic novel was written despite the author never having visited Vietnam but he captures the city perfectly. ’The white stone wharf, when it appeared, took him by surprise. It ran beside a broad, shaded boulevard of feathery pepper trees, and the sudden sight of European-style buildings made him reflect that the jungles, fields and villages through which they’d been moving for the past few hours had remained unchanging throughout many centuries. But there without doubt were the elusive twin spires of Saigon’s cathedral that he’d seen from far off, stationary now and clearly visible, standing sentinel over the wide tree-lined avenues.’
A moving epic story by Duong Van Mai Elliott is
The Sacred Willow (1999), which covers four generations of a Vietnamese family from French colonialism through World War II to the American War. The British Labor MP Chris Mullin, a long-time friend of Vietnam and once a war correspondent there, covers post-liberation Saigon in his 1986 novel
The Last Man out of Saigon. It tells of a CIA man, masquerading as a journalist who stays on after the fall of the city to destabilize the new regime. His cover is blown and he spends time being re-educated and working as a rice-farmer. Here he learns that there are two sides to any story and to any war.
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Word Travels is a comprehensive travel guide covering hundreds of cities and holiday resorts in more than 125 countries.
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