THE STORY OF THE ROMANCE MOVIE

THE STORY OF THE ROMANTIC FILM "AZ ALMAFA VIRÁGA” (APPLE BLOSSOM) - starring Nari Nguyen, Balázs Koltai-Nagy, András Sütő and Dzhuliya Lam, is a story that spans decades, countries and continents. The film cleverly weaves between the past and the present, through a love story that blossoms in the present to tell the story of a sad love story in 1974 and a happy ending in the present at the end of the film. Song Ha, a young girl from the present from Vietnam, comes to Budapest to find her missing grandfather Tibor. The plot takes viewers back to the 70s of the last century, when Vietnamese students were awarded scholarships and selected to study at universities in Hungary, thanks to the close friendship between the two countries. The purpose of this program is to train Vietnamese students become educated intellectuals to return to rebuild war-torn Vietnam - so young people must meet expectations and adhere to strict rules. As Song Ha and her enthusiastic new friend Viktor investigate clues related to the whereabouts of the girl's grandfather, they embark on unexpected adventures and face their own worldviews and true feelings. This is the first co-production between Hungary and Vietnam, featuring actors of different nationalities, beautiful scenes and good music. The opening scene of the film is an image of the present day. The beautiful young girl Song Ha (actress Nari Nguyen) with long black hair pulls a suitcase to the bank of the Danube River. She quietly drops a handful of ashes into the blue water. Suddenly, the blue-eyed boy Viktor (actress Koltai-Nagy Balázs) greets her, startling her and causing her to drop the urn into the river. They get to know each other. Viktor's sincere, open and humorous way of speaking initially won the young girl's sympathy and trust. Song Ha told Viktor that she was fulfilling her father's wish when he was alive, which was to see the Danube. She said she had just arrived from Vietnam and was looking for her grandfather who had been missing for a long time. The young man made an appointment with Song Ha the next morning at a coffee shop and would help her find clues. The camera panned over the enchanting scenery along the Danube while the melodious music captivated the audience, promising the following exciting details. The next morning they set off for Gödöllő Agricultural University, looking for the identities of all the people who had attended the class of 1974. They went to the library and found the yearbook, which contained photos of the students. They had difficulty finding the addresses and contact numbers of some of the people in the photos. The first clue found was Mrs. Xuan Lan, now an elderly woman in a wheelchair and no longer lucid. When Mrs. Xuan Lan saw Song Ha, she continuously called out the name of Thien Nga - the friend who had shared a dormitory room with her at Gödöllõ Agricultural University in 1974. The meeting did not bring the expected results, but the young couple did not give up. They persistently continued to search. Some images of the past suddenly appeared, the image of a Hungarian boy and a Vietnamese girl happily holding hands running in the hallway of the university library, the image of a Vietnamese girl with a holy face walking into the lecture hall. The images suddenly appeared and then disappeared, the ghostly and magical combination with the special music arrangement made the audience excited and eager to wait for the next developments in the film.

The young couple continued to visit the home of Mrs. Kati (actress Takács Katalin) and Mr. Thanh (actor…). Fortunately, the couple recounted in great detail the sad love story in 1974 of student Tibor (actress Sütő András) and Thien Nga (actress Dzshuliya Lam), the grandfather and grandmother of the young girl Song Ha. The story took the young couple back to the university scene of Gödöllõ Agricultural University in the early 70s of the last century. It was the image of Hungarian and Vietnamese students dancing at the year-end festival, cycling together to pick apples during the Socialist labor days, studying together in groups, living together in the student dormitory. At that time, the female student Xuan Lan lived in the same dormitory room with the female student Thien Nga. They were Vietnamese students who received scholarships from the Hungarian government. They had to adapt to life away from home and study very hard, had to achieve good results to gain reputation for Vietnam under the strict management of the Vietnamese Embassy officer in charge of international students named Vu Thanh. In the group of Hungarian friends there was Kati, a red-haired girl, active, enthusiastic, very loving and always willing to help Vietnamese students. Thien Nga was beautiful, gentle, good at studying, once accidentally bumped into a boy in the university hallway, from then on the boy could not forget her image. Thien Nga and Tibor gradually came together with the support of friends, but they always had to avoid the control of the officer in charge of international students. Their love was marked by a fetus growing inside Thien Nga. The story was exposed, Thien Nga had to be disciplined by being expelled from school and was extradited to the Embassy to then board a ship back to Vietnam. The image of a small young girl packing her suitcase while crying, tears rolling down her face, only having time to quickly put on a coat over her nightgown to quietly stagger out of the cozy room at midnight with three men escorting her with cold faces, getting into the legendary Volga car of the 70s of the last century, under the startled eyes of her roommate Xuan Lan, moved the hearts of viewers. Even though they knew that the disciplinary regulations for international students during the fierce war in Vietnam were like that, viewers' tears still flowed with each staggering step of the girl and the little creature she was carrying. When he heard the story, Tibor immediately went to the Vietnamese embassy to meet Thien Nga, but the Hungarian police guarding her politely refused to let him in every time. He ran to the train station to ask about trains to Vietnam but did not receive a satisfactory answer. Tibor chose to sit at Keleti train station every day hoping to have a chance to meet Thien Nga, and he succeeded in seeing his lover even for a moment when Thien Nga was extradited to the train station from the Embassy to board the train back to Vietnam. The image of Tibor trying to chase the train that had started moving in hopes of seeing his lover even for a few more seconds, and Thien Nga trying to look at Tibor through the train window and then patiently lowering her head following the order of the extradition officer accompanying her, shows the harshness of the wartime regulations. Really, no one can be blamed here. That was the time, pitiful and regrettable, and that was it.
With the determination to find his lover and with the help of Thanh, a Vietnamese student who at that time had feelings for Kati, (they later became husband and wife), Tibor cleverly used Thanh's documents to get a permit to buy a ticket to board the train back to Vietnam.
The old couple Kati and Thanh continued, they said that later they heard that Tibor was arrested in Vietnam for not having a legal entry permit or maybe Tibor had gone missing, they also did not know any more news about Thien Nga after that. Everything was clear, but how to continue searching? The feelings between Song Ha and Viktor gradually blossomed along the length of the search journey. Then, as if by a spiritual guidance, Viktor's car suddenly ran out of gas in a pouring rain night. The two young people stopped to rest in a motel in a mountainous area. Through a chance conversation with the motel owner over a glass of red wine, in a cozy room overlooking the heavy rain outside the glass door, Song Ha learned that on the top of the mountain there was an old man living alone taking care of the apple orchard, lonely and without relatives. The next morning, while Viktor was sleeping in the living room outside, she quietly walked alone through the forest to find the hidden man who owned the apple orchard, even though she had been warned that it was very difficult to reach the top of the mountain. When he learned that Song Ha was walking alone through the forest, Viktor went to look for Song Ha, but only found a necklace made from apple seeds that she had dropped in the forest. When he reached to pick up the necklace, he slipped into a dry stream and passed out. The person who saved him from death was Mr. Tibor - the romantic student from back then, the father of the life Thien Nga carried in her body, and Song Ha's grandfather! As for Song Ha, she got lost in the forest and couldn't find her way to where she wanted to go, so she had to return to the motel. When she didn't see Viktor there, she quietly left.

Viktor woke up in the hospital, the first person he met was his grandfather, who had raised and lived with him since he was a child. When his grandfather took Viktor to meet Mr. Tibor to thank him, the last pieces of Song Ha's family story were completed into a complete picture. Viktor immediately called Song Ha, who was in Vietnam.
The end of the film is the reunion scene between Mrs. Thien Nga and Mr. Tibor, witnessed by Song Ha and Viktor on the campus of Gödöllõ Agricultural University, where they had met years ago. They were reunited in happiness, a happy ending with cheerful and bustling music. The film is very good, the music is good, the beautiful scenes are carefully selected to show the landscapes of Hungary and Vietnam. The cultural characteristics of the two countries, the people, and the behaviors are also very delicately selected to show on screen.
A romantic and challenging love story is told interwoven in space and time. As a unique feature, the film does not mention the parents' generation but only emphasizes the love of today's youth and that of grandparents in the past. Although there are differences in social, cultural and political circumstances, love is always pure, strong and above all. Viewers can enjoy beautiful lyrical music and admire the beautiful natural scenery of Hungary and Vietnam. Especially for former Vietnamese students in Hungary and Eastern Europe - the former Soviet Union, everyone can find a part of themselves through the scenes in the film. The film was originally titled "Budapest, where love begins", then changed to "Apple Blossom". Although the film is partly fictional, it is also based on many real events. Throughout the film, Song Ha always wears a necklace she received from her grandmother, which is the necklace made from apple seeds that Mrs. Thien Nga was given by Mr. Tibor years ago. This is a detail based on a true story of a Hungarian-Vietnamese couple at that time, the Hungarian lover strung apple seeds into a necklace to give to his Vietnamese girlfriend.
The detail of the Hungarian police participating in escorting Vietnamese students is just a fiction, this fiction has been confirmed by former students at that time. If only the director had cast a female actor who was a doctor or nurse in the group of people escorting Thien Nga to the car, if only the eyes and attitudes of the people who came to extradite her were a little less cold and a little more sympathetic, even though they knew it was still fiction, then perhaps it would have won more sympathy from the audience.
A very notable detail, perhaps the director had chosen to include, is the scene where while the TV was showing a news program about the fierce Vietnam War, under the apple tree, in the dark and passionate, Thien Nga and Tibor brought each other to the peak of love. At the same time, inside the group study room, other Vietnamese and Hungarian friends are studying or pretending to study to keep an eye on the young couple. Love, the war situation in their home country and the responsibility to study, these three categories cannot always be reconciled at the same time. Thien Nga and Tibor chose love, accepting everything!
Watching the film, we can feel the Hungarian people's feelings towards the Vietnamese people. Enthusiastic, tolerant, sympathetic and kind, Hungary has and is still opening its arms to welcome international students, vocational workers, workers coming to work, large and small businesses... from Vietnam. Vietnamese people who have lived and are living in Hungary always understand, are grateful, appreciate and cherish this.
Watching the film, we have a deeper understanding of reason and emotion in human relationships. Above all, humanity is still the most important thing. We will have a more humane understanding of the Vietnamese people who have left their families and relatives to come to Hungary to make a living in recent years. They have also made their own choices, and they accept everything, just like the young couple Tibor and Thien Nga in the past.
The movie "Hoa Tao" is worth watching, currently being widely shown in cinemas across the provinces and cities in Hungary. In particular, the Corvin mozi cinema in District 8, Budapest is showing the Vietnamese subtitled version. After that, the film is expected to be shown in Vietnam.
DC Handel Kft is honored to be a part of the sponsor for the production of the movie "Hoa Tao".