From heroic narratives to reconciliatory memory: reframing Viet Nam War in ‘The Scent of Burning Grass’ and ‘Red Rain’

This study examines the development of Vietnamese revolutionary cinema through a comparison of The Scent of Burning Grass (2011) and Red Rain (2025), which released more than a decade apart yet depicting the same historical event: the Battle of Quang Tri Citadel during Vietnam’s resistance war against the United States. Drawing on Representation, Framing, and Collective Memory theories, the study combines multimodal film analysis and expert insights to explore war representation in post-Doi Moi cinema. The findings reveal a shift from heroic-revolutionary narratives toward more layered and reconciliatory forms of remembrance, reflecting changing constructions of collective memory in contemporary Vietnam.