The Scent of Green Papaya (1993)

Pretty Good

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

If you like a simple story with a happy ending and beautiful filming, The Scent of Green Papaya is for you. There is an unparalleled aesthetic and soothing quality to the film that traces the life of Mui, a peasant girl sent to Saigon to work for a well-to-do merchant family, and her new "family." Mui is a calm, peaceful soul, filled with happiness and joy. She teaches us to find the beautiful in the everyday and is an interesting contrast to the sons in the family, one who destroys the life around him and another who seeks to torment Mui relentlessly. The story line is simple and the scenery does not change much. Yet, each frame captures the unique details of the objects and people within the frame. This serves as a reminder to look around one's everyday environment and enjoy the aesthetics and life found there. Although obviously filmed on set and not within the natural environment, watching this film was like walking through a hidden botanical garden in a bustling city...full of treasures that delight the eyes and calm the soul.

The community in this film, for the most part, is civil and respectful. It is a calm and quiet environment where the servants are treated with just as much esteem as are the landowners and their children. It is not a place of dread (as might be expected concerning the lives of servants), but is a place of learning and growth. Despite the occasional feuds between Mui and the master's younger son, the director establishes a tranquil atmosphere through the use of jungle ambiance, soothing riffs from citars and flutes, mis-en-scene, and transcendence from the ordinary things of life.The predominant community established and focused on is of servant-hood. The tutorials between the young apprentice, Mui, and her elderly instructor, To, give the viewer insights to their daily chores and lifestyle. The life of a servant consists of cooking, preparation, cleaning, passion, and appreciation for the ordinary. In particular, a great emphasis is honed in on the importance of cleanliness and preparation. Multiple scenes reveal the delicate care the servants take in preparing the food they create for their masters. Cleanliness always precedes these acts of creation. Beautiful close-ups and slow motioned effects show Mui washing her hands and face in a rather spiritually ritualistic way. The director establishes their works more like an art than like a service. However, the life of a servant, by definition, is still one of entrapment.The camera itself acts like a trapped servant for the majority of the film. It always seems to be peering upon the characters through obstructed walls, screens, doors, and windows, yet never reveals them entirely. It's as if the camera is trying to break free from the clutter that fills the screen by constantly moving proportionately to the way the characters move. The screen is always filled in various layers—the foreground will usually be filled with a variety of set décor; the middle ground is the characters space; and the background is for extras and the mood of the atmosphere. The community presented is also one that has a deep appreciation for the ordinary things in life.Immaculate close-ups of bugs, frogs, lizards and plants all help illustrate the love the people, and more particularly, the director, have for the beauties in nature. An interesting use of mis-en-scene is paralleled between Mui and the insects she feeds inside the cage. Mui, an entrapped servant inside her own cage called "home", feeds a cluster of crickets entrapped inside their cage in order to sustain their lives. It is a reflection of her own nourishing she receives from the masters inside the cage she lives in. It is her way of giving back to nature what nature has given to her. A tender scene is shown between the friendship of Mui and her crickets when she is told she will be leaving to serve in another home. As she opens the door to the cage to let the crickets go free, they cling to its surface—unwilling to move. That the crickets are scared to break free and venture outside beyond the confines of their cage is a reflection of Mui's life to venture beyond the home (cage) she was essentially raised in. The community, then, is shown as being one that represents the effects of being institutionalized over a given period of time. The characters in the story, whether human or insect, are ones that adapt to their environment quickly and make the best of their given situation. Uncomfortable feelings are the natural result of those who are told to divorce themselves from the norm. In short, the community presented is the metaphysical expression of the human development from being to change to becoming.

The video case for this film reads "a story of beauty, passion, and forbidden fruit". Are they talking about the same movie I just saw?! They can't be, as the film I just saw was beautiful, but there was no passion and as for the fruit, this is all hogwash meant to entice the potential viewer to see this movie. If only it did have some passion or some life to it, I would have greatly enjoyed this film. Instead, it was an agonizingly slow paced and not particularly interesting film that I would definitely not want to see again. It isn't that it's a bad film (after all it IS very beautifully filmed), but it is dull beyond belief. I kept waiting for something exciting or interesting to happen, but then the movie just ended. There was no great sense of excitement, mystery or anything--just a rather unexciting story about a young girl who becomes a servant and spends the next 10 years of her life working as a maid.

This stunningly beautiful film has a strong Buddhist theme, so it's unsurprising that many American viewers were perplexed by it even while captivated by its beauty. It is the story of Mui, a poor servant girl ... except she is no ordinary servant girl, she is an Enlightened One. She lives totally in the here and now, and sees and appreciates everything (and so do we, thanks to the breathtaking color cinematography). She quietly goes through her ordinary life, giving every tiny moment all her attention and invisibly enriching the lives of all those around her, until near the end of the picture she is given off to a family friend whom, coincidentally, she has fancied since she was little. He is engaged to another woman, but one day he picks up a bust of Buddha, and stares at it with recognition, realizing suddenly that the face and the smile of the Buddha are something he has been seeing every day, on Mui. He sees her for what she is, and both their lives are transformed. Even more astounding than the richness and beauty of this film, is the feat of finding two wonderful actresses 10 years apart, to play the same very unusual girl, both identically beautiful and graceful and having the Buddha smile. Intoxicating and unforgettable.