VietNamNet Bridge – Having recently been in town filming the six-week Vietnamese leg of the biopic Noble – the story of missionary Christina Noble – director Stephen Bradley took some time out to talk to the Saigon Times Daily about the fascinating lady herself.

Stephen Bradley keeps an eye on the movie process during the filming of Noble with his wife and lead actress Deirdre O’Kane in the city - Photo: Courtesy of the movie team.

Noble of course is the visionary Irishwoman who suffered from being homeless herself and famously heard the cries of help from Vietnamese street children in the early seventies during the American War before coming to Saigon with ten dollars in her pocket on a mission to help them.

From her humble beginnings singing and doing what she could to raise cash for the children, she has touched the lives of millions of children and adults alike through the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation (CNCF) which she founded in 1989 and helps street kids have a real chance at life.

Bradley’s wife Deirdre O’Kane, a famed Irish comedian and actress plays Noble who he describes as the Irish ‘Mother Theresa with balls’ in the movie which is now being filmed in Liverpool, England which is doubling as Dublin of the 1970s.

“Deirdre originally had the idea to do the movie. She did some charity comedy gigs for Christina Noble Children’s Foundation (CNCF). We decided we were going to do the movie in 2008. Five years later we were filming in Saigon where Christina’s remarkable story took shape,” he said.
One scene in the movie features O’Kane (as Noble) singing in a club to expatriates as she tried to highlight the plight of the starving homeless kids of Vietnam.

Now 700,000 children are being taken care of thanks to Noble’s entrepreneurship and passion in Vietnam and Mongolia. She has built a foundation that has committees in Australia, France, Germany, England, Vietnam, Ireland and the U.S.

“The decision to make the movie was easy in the sense that Christina is such a fascinating character. Most people only know about her ‘good deeds’ although she would hate you to say that. She just sees it as something she wants to do, so she does it. What fascinated me was how funny and musical she is,” Bradley says.

“Christina always has hope and that is why her story is so interesting. She is so courageous and if you tie in the humor and music, it allows you to have the rollercoaster. It she wasn’t that person I wouldn’t have been interested. The thing about Christina’s story is you don’t stop admiring that story; you don’t stop loving that story and don’t stop getting a buzz out of other people being affected by it.”

Noble received the President’s medal of friendship from the Vietnamese President in London and in true style sung a song on stage highlighting her character and personality.

Bradley believes that the reason Noble fitted in so well and become one with Vietnam is because Vietnamese people are the Irish of Southeast Asia.

“My thoughts on Vietnam are strangely that the people in Vietnam are similar to people from Ireland. They have a very similar sense of humour, a lot of madness and chaos and that’s very Irish. That is why Christina connected so well, they have great spirit as well.”

The movie tells the story from Noble’s days as a street kid after suffering from an abusive, alcoholic father when her mother died, her ill-fated abusive marriage in England and her arrival in Saigon in 1989 where she started her foundation from scratch.

By Derek Milroy

Source: SGT