{"id":53918,"date":"2026-07-18T02:52:49","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T06:52:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=53918"},"modified":"2026-07-18T02:52:49","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T06:52:49","slug":"tunnels-sun-in-the-dark-fantasia-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2026\/07\/18\/tunnels-sun-in-the-dark-fantasia-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Tunnels: Sun in the Dark (Fantasia 2026)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nHarrowing stories converge in this Vietnam War film that gives us a look from the side of the Viet Cong.
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Apocalypse Now. Full Metal Jacket. Platoon. Films such as these dominate the discussion when it comes to films about the Vietnam War. Each of these films portray the American forces as a mixed bag of morally ambiguous soldiers worthy of empathy or vilification. In a rare look at the war, Tunnels: Sun in the Dark, leans in on the vilification. The film follows a 21-man team of Viet Cong guerrilla fighters with the majority of the story taking place in the titular tunnels, a network of underground hideouts that were used to avoid the foreign invaders. Seen as propaganda by some, Tunnels: Sun in the Dark is simply a look at the military conflict through the eyes of the Viet Cong.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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With a menagerie of characters to keep up with, Tunnels: Sun in the Dark covers a lot of ground when it comes to the threats of war. As an ensemble film, none of the narrative’s characters steal the spotlight. Everyone is given equal time to explore a different experience brought on by the conflict, uncertainty, and opportunists. While the movie isn’t shy about its action sequences, they’re often short lived and lead us into subsequent moments that carry much more emotional weight. In terms of opportunists, audiences should be warned that Tunnels features a sexual assault plot that comes completely out of left field. Ultimately unnecessary, the moment is as jarring as it is abrupt. Though it’s done to showcase the Hell of war, I just couldn’t justify its existence in a film that otherwise does a great job of showing why nobody wants to be in a war. While the movie could have easily shown the American soldiers as a monstrous force, it takes time to humanize them as they show fear when they begin to navigate the tunnels that the Viet Cong occupy. Ultimately, neither side wants to be there. This is a plot point shared across most, if not all, films about Vietnam, regardless of who made it.<\/p>\n

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Tunnels: Sun in the Dark is harrowing, yet strangely beautiful in some fleeting moments. While the movie could have run the risk of being about as exciting as that time Ryan Reynolds was locked in a box for an hour and a half (Buried 2010), Tunnels keeps the viewer locked in by throwing more at them than just some gun fire followed by a retreat underground. Threats come from the American soldiers, flooding, cave-ins, and maybe even from fellow Viet Cong. A credit to its sincerity where it’s due, Tunnels utilizes some of the actual tunnels that remain from the war to this very day. Their narrow corridors, depth, and winding paths, create an uncomfortable and claustrophobic setting that’s often overlooked by war films about that era. The authenticity brought to the story is thanks to writer \/ director B\u00f9i Thac Chuy\u00ean. Throughout the years, Chuy\u00ean has written and directed vastly different stories ranging from a horror film (Blood Curse), to drama (Glorious Ashes) and now an emotionally charged and explosive war drama. While I’m new to the world of Vietnamese cinema, Chuy\u00ean has gained my attention and will remain on my radar for years to come.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\u00a0Military films always run the risk of disrespecting the source material, but that’s nowhere close to being a problem for Tunnels: Sun in the Dark. It recently played at the Fantasia film festival to a receptive audience that was very welcoming to the premise. Almost unanimously praised among those who saw it, Tunnels does what too few have done prior. Seeing conflict through the eyes of people we were once told were our enemy retroactively humanizes the very people our soldiers were told to strike down. Such an approach should be taken in regards to every human conflict. For every Platoon, there should be a Tunnels: Sun in the Dark… Otherwise known as Dia Dao: Mat Troi Trong Bong Toi, this glimpse at history through a grounded lens is a very welcome approach to the subject of military conflict, and the actions taken by the people it affects. If you’re looking to see the Viet Cong’s side of the war, look no further than Tunnels. With emotionally driven acting, nerve wracking action, and a perpetually tense setting, this is one war film that shouldn’t be missed.<\/p>\n

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Harrowing stories converge in this Vietnam War film that gives us a look from the side of the Viet Cong.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[1749,4062,4067,1159,4066],"class_list":["post-53918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-fantasia","tag-fantasia-2026","tag-period-drama","tag-vietnam-war","tag-war-drama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53918"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53918\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53924,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53918\/revisions\/53924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}