MOVIES - May 24, 1988

A pirated copy of “Platoon” is the current box office smash in Saigon, according to Swiss director Ho Quang Minh after a recent visit to his native country. Minh, who left South Vietnam in 1967, said that the Vietnamese government is allowing local theaters to show imported films and even encouraging foreign production within its borders. “They are very open to shooting in Vietnam,” said Minh, who in 1985 presided over the first independent production in Vietnam since the war. “The films don’t have to be pro-Vietnam, just as long as they aren’t anti-Vietnam. . . . The people want any film from abroad, especially with action. They consider most Russian films too slow.”