The movie, Scent of Green Papaya, is about a young girl who becomes a servan at a wealthy family's house. One thing that the film did a good job at was portraying the lives of the Vietnamese people and the differences between the groups of people. Everybody enjoys their simple lifestyle and wears very plain clothing. There is also a lot of vegetation around and people are constantly playing their instruments. There is a large difference between the way that the men and the woman act. For one thing, it is apparent that the men have more power than the women. An example of this is when the husband runs off with all of the family money and nothing is ever said to him about it (it is even blamed on the wife for not loving her husband enough) or when the youngest boy pees all over the floor and in the vase. The women, however, are very calm and focused on the chores and household duties. They do most of the talking in the movie, but it is mostly about what they have to do or cook.
All of the portraits of passed family members on the mantel show the importance of family and ancestry in the Vietnamese culture because even the family members who are no longer are around are still honored and never forgotten. The ants are a symbol of the French occupation of Vietnamese people in the light that they are watched, hurt, and even killed by the French and that's what is done to the ants by the people (especially the master's youngest son). Not to mention that there is the sound of the curfew sirens going off throughout the movie to reming the people that they are not free to do what they please and have to obey the rules restricting what they can do.
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