Nuoc 2030: Water as a Carrier of Hope and Despair

Abstract

This article examines the representation of the changing relationships between coastal communities, multinational corporations, and the sea itself in the first Vietnamese sci-fi film Nuoc 2030 (2014) directed by Vietnamese-American filmmaker Nghiem-Minh Nguyen-Vo. Set in a near-future Southern Vietnam, where climate change has submerged half of the region under seawater, the film follows a young woman’s quest to uncover the truth behind her husband’s murder.   

Drawing on the Blue Humanities and the Anthropocene discourse, this article explores how the coastal communities in the film adapt to, and coexist with, a world inundated by water and marked by biodiversity loss. At the same time, through close textual analysis and examination of Vietnam’s colonial history, it shows how the film highlights the troubling reality of escalating extractive activities of multinational corporations in the country, often masked by the promise of innovative green technologies. Nuoc 2030 weaves together the present and past through flashbacks; its narrative mirrors the chaotic and messy characteristics of water, which carry both the remnants of what has been lost to global warming and the potential offered by the vast unknown of the sea. With its dynamic depiction of time, Nuoc 2030 invites reflections on how human actions—past, present, and future—affect the blue planet and the lives of both humans and nonhumans that inhabit and rely on water.

This article contributes to the expanding field of Blue Humanities through its focus on Southeast Asia. It provides a critical perspective on the cultural and artistic representation of sea level rise particularly in Southern Vietnam and its wider implications for global environmental justice by considering where the film positions itself in terms of hope and responsibility.