With or Without Me

A deceptive idyll prevails in the evergreen hills of Dien Bien Phu in Northwest Vietnam, near to the Golden Triangle. It was once opium that poisoned the people and the landscape here; today it is heroin. And for the most part it is the men who get hooked by the needle – like the two friends Thi and Trung. Yet while Trung sinks ever deeper into the vortex of his addiction, Thi is going cold turkey for the sake of his wife. In actual fact, in this gentle chamber play, the women are the true heroes: they struggle against HIV and addiction in the advisory clinics and challenge fate with music and theatre. A potent plea – in Direct Cinema style – against the power of heroin. (DOK.fest München)