Children of the Mist (Những đứa trẻ trong sương) follows Di from age 12 to 15, as she comes of age in a H'mong village where girlhood ends in early marriage. Shot over three years, this Oscar-shortlisted documentary is a haunting and deeply intimate portrait of contemporary rural life; and the frictions between modernization and tradition.
To grasp the quiet force of Children of the Mist, you first have to understand what “bride-napping” really means: a practice where girls are taken by would-be husbands and kept with the boy’s family for three days. After that, she must choose: go home, or stay and become a wife.
That’s how it’s supposed to be. In Di’s case, the boy’s family came to drag her out of her house — even after she chose school, not marriage.
But Di refuses to let that choice be made for her. Even if it means going against her parents. Even if it means being judged by her entire community.
"I want to spread this message to all women or young girls around the world — no matter where we are or which H’mong community we come from, we all have the right to our own freedom," Di said to Ngoisao.
“I’ll study hard, make lots of money,” Di grins when asked about her future dream. “Then I can have as many boyfriends as I want.” It’s a cheeky dream from a 15-year-old, but in a place where girls are stolen into marriage, it’s a quiet act of rebellion: a H'mong girl daring to imagine and claim her own future.
Literary critic Hoang Cam Giang told Tuoi Tre that the mist in the film can be seen as something H’mong people have grown used to living within, something that shapes the way they see the world. Like the line between right and wrong, between modernity and tradition, it’s not as clear-cut as we often think. Making Children of the Mist a portrait of a community torn between the two worlds, of ethnic heritage and urbanizing Vietnam.
The film has picked up 34 awards and an Oscar shortlist nod — the first for a Vietnamese documentary. But its real power lies in the questions it leaves behind: Who gets to rewrite traditions?
“Before Di was napped, I reminded her that when such a thing happens, parents are not allowed to intervene,” Di’s mother told Tuoi Tre. “If she didn’t agree to the marriage, she had to resist on her own.”
In the H’mong village, Di’s mother still wears traditional clothing whenever she goes out. To do otherwise, she says, would be embarrassing. Her family lives with deep reverence for custom.
When Di faces the forced marriage, the Kinh teachers, outsiders in this Hmong community, don’t stop her. They only remind her of the law, that they are underage.
The choice, ultimately, is Di’s, and her community’s.
In the ending scene, Di runs into the mist, away from the lens. The fog swallows her.
They are, after all, children of the mist.
Among Vietnam's 54 recognized ethnic groups, the Kinh people make up the majority, around 86% of the country's population and primarily live in lowland and coastal areas.
The H'mong community accounts for approximately 8.5% of Vietnam's population, making them the eighth-largest ethnic group. They are mostly concentrated in the northern mountainous provinces, including Ha Giang, Dien Bien, Son La, and Lao Cai.