"Scent of Green Papaya" is a very simple movie with very little visible plot. This movie is based around the everyday activities of Mui as she works around the house for a family that had their only female child die. I think this film's simplicity is it's greatest asset. I think the simplicity of Mui's life is symbolic of the lives that the Vietnamese people want to live. They don't want other countries imposing puppet regimes or meddling in their affairs, they just want to be independent and left alone to enjoy life.
Another piece of symbolism that I found prominent in this movie is the part where the ants die in the candlewax. This type of mass death is symbolic for the type of death that people are dying in the Vietnam War. As soon as I saw the ants and the candlewax I thought of the use of napalm in the war.
Also, I thought that the fact the movie was almost completely silent was very symbolic. The common Vietnamese citizen trapped in between two sides of a raging war probably felt very weak, helpless, and repressed. I think that the lack of language in this movie captures that sort of silencing of the common people by leaders and groups with political agendas.
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