''Coordinates of Death'' (alternative title ''Target for Death'' ; russian: Координаты смерти, vi, italic=yes, Tọa độ chết) is a 1985 film by

Samvel Gasparov Samvel Vladimirovich Gasparov (russian: Самве́л Влади́мирович Гаспа́ров; 7 June 1938 – 26 May 2020) was a Russian film director and short story writer. He worked for some time at the Odessa Film Studio. He was bur ...

(

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

) and Nguyen Xuan Chan (

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

). The film, which involved both Soviet and Vietnamese movie makers, is mostly about American brutality during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

Plot

Events depicted in the movie unfold in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The

Americans Americans are the citizens and nationals of the United States of America.; ; Although direct citizens and nationals make up the majority of Americans, many dual citizens, expatriates, and permanent residents could also legally claim Ame ...

are bombing Vietnamese towns and villages, breaking into households, killing women and children. All ships of the European merchant fleet have already left the coast of

North Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; vi, Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), was a socialist state supported by the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Southeast Asia that existed f ...

, but the Soviet

dry cargo ship A bulk carrier or bulker is a merchant ship specially designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo — such as grains, coal, ore, steel coils, and cement — in its cargo holds. Since the first specialized bulk carrier was built in 1852, econom ...

''Chelyabinsk'' refuses to leave Vietnamese shores despite a

United States military The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is th ...

ultimatum. A few days later the ship is sunk and surviving Soviet sailors join a caravan of Vietnamese insurgents moving along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The plot concerns the visit of an American actress to war-torn North Vietnam. At the height of the Vietnam War, actress Kate Francis (a cinematic representation of Jane Fonda) travels along with the resistance fighters and witnesses first-hand the destruction heaped upon the Vietnamese people by the American forces. Before returning to the US in order to deliver the truth about the current state of matters to the wider international community, she organizes a press conference to relate all that she has seen and to literally sing the praises of the Vietnamese people. Meanwhile, in

Haiphong Haiphong ( vi, Hải Phòng, ), or Hải Phòng, is a major industrial city and the third-largest in Vietnam. Hai Phong is also the center of technology, economy, culture, medicine, education, science and trade in the Red River delta. Haiphong wa ...

, Kate's Vietnamese friend Mai introduces her to her husband, combat engineer Phong, who has recently returned home from the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

aboard the ''Chelyabinsk''. The

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

is preparing to detonate a bomb in Haiphong port, but friends manage to prevent it.

Cast

Aleksandr Galibin Alexander Vladimirovich Galibin (russian: Александр Владимирович Галибин, born 27 September 1955) is a Soviet and Russian actor noted for playing the Master in the miniseries ''The Master and Margarita'' (2005). His a ...

as Ivan Krutin * Trần Lê Vân as Mai * Đặng Lưu Việt Bảo as Phong *

Tatyana Lebedeva Tatyana Romanovna Lebedeva (russian: Татьяна Романовна Лебедева, born 21 July 1976) is a Russian track and field athlete who competes in both the long jump and triple jump events. She is one of the most successful athle ...

as Kate Francis * Yury Nazarov as Captain Shukhov * Daniil Netrebin * Rudolf Pankov * Nguyễn Huy Công * Hoàng Uẩn * Nguyễn Thị Thu An as the old mother * Mai Châu as the woman carrying a baby

Backstage

Filming took place in

Hanoi Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...

and the most picturesque Vietnamese landscapes, such as the Central Highlands,

Halong Bay Halong may refer to: * Ha Long, also known as Hong Gai, the capital city of Quang Ninh Province, Vietnam * Halong Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage site located in Quảng Ninh province, Vietnam * Halong naval base, an Indonesian Navy (previously Dut ...

and

. The film features a lot of high-budget scenes, such as downed American pilots, aircraft crashed into the sea, burned villages and mass battle-scenes. A lot of Soviet specialists worked in

portraying American military aviators.

Soundtrack

Theme songs of the film, which appear at the beginning and end of the movie, are "The Spring" (composed by Pham Minh Tuan) and " The land of Vietnamese" (an

anti-war song Some anti-war songs lament aspects of wars, while others satirize war. Most promote peace in some form, while others sing out against specific armed conflicts. Still others depict the physical and psychological destruction that warfare causes to ...

, which Kate Francis performed in the movie, though voiced by the famous Russian singer

Larisa Dolina Larisa Aleksandrovna Dolina (russian: link=no, Лариса Александровна Долина, , née Kudelman, Кудельман, formerly Mionchinskaya, Миончинская; born 10 September 1955) is an Azerbaijani-born prominent Rus ...

Details

* Original music :

Yevgeny Krylatov Yevgeny Pavlovich Krylatov (russian: Евге́ний Па́влович Крыла́тов; 23 February 1934 – 8 May 2019) was a Soviet and Russian composer who wrote songs for over 120 Soviet and Russian movies and animated films. Biogr ...

* Cinematography : Thu Dan, Sergey Filippov * Film editing : Tatyana Malyavina, Nguyen Thi Ninh * Production design : Pyotr Pashkevich, Dao Duc * Sound effects : Boris Koreshkov, Nguyen Quoc Can

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0264766 *
The Spring
' (Performed by Cẩm Vân) 1980s Russian-language films Gorky Film Studio films Films directed by Samvel Gasparov 1985 films 1980s war films Vietnam War films Soviet Union–Vietnam relations Soviet multilingual films Russian-language Vietnamese films 1985 multilingual films