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by Jim Pappas Published: April 17, 2005
 Young Binh (Damien Nguyen) navigates Viet Nam’s Mekong river in, “The Beautiful Country.” A sensitive and touching performance by Damien Nguyen (as Binh) helps raise “The Beautiful Country” above its flaws as it examines some of the lingering aftereffects of the Viet Nam war, including the plight of the children fathered by American soldiers with Vietnamese women. These children, now adults, are known in their native land as Bui Doi, which translates as “less than dust.” They are ostracized and hated by their peers, and I suspect most of them eke out a marginal existence by doing menial labor, as is illustrated by what we see of Binh’s life in the film. Set in 1990, “The Beautiful Country” refers to both Viet Nam and the United States, as the two countries are referred to as such by characters in the film. To their credit, director Hans Petter Moland and the writers (Sabina Murray: screenplay and story with Lingard Jervey) stay away from the politics and focus on Binh’s life and ordeals as he travels from a small village to the big city of Saigon (actually, the official name of the city is Ho Chi Minh City, but most of the residents still call it Saigon), to a refugee camp in Malaysia and finally to New York City and Sweetwater, Texas, in the U.S. Binh is accompanied on his journey by his young half-brother, Tam (Tran Dang Quoc Thinh), who is a small child, and by the beautiful Ling (Bai Ling), whom he meets in the refugee camp. Ling befriends Binh and the two stay together until they reach New York. It is in New York where the two find their destinies. Besides touching upon the plight of Amerasians, “The Beautiful Country” brings to light the continuing problem of the exploitation of refugees by unscrupulous men who promise to deliver them to America, for a very high price. This type of flesh trade isn’t limited to Asia, but for the most part the difficulties experienced by Asian immigrants are greater than others in the world. Their journey from Asia to the U.S. is harrowing, as they are packed into cargo holds of second rate merchant vessels, and the Pacific ocean is a cruel mistress. Many die (as demonstrated in the film), and with their bodies being tossed overboard it is hard to know how many people have actually succumbed during the voyages of these modern day slave ships. There are some aspects of “The Beautiful Country,” at least in terms of the construction of the film, that I didn’t understand. I don’t know how much of the story was left on the cutting room floor, but there were gaps in logic where it seemed the filmmakers eschewed that in favor of just getting to the end of the story. For example, Binh escapes from the refugee camp in Malaysia and boards a cargo ship bound for America. He ends up in New York, not the west coast, so that means the ship must have traveled through the Panama Canal, but the filmmakers never allow us to get a sense that this happened. Another plot point that is left dangling is that the incident that propelled Binh towards going to America involved his mother (Chau Thi Kim Xuan as Mai), yet she stays behind in Viet Nam, and we never find out the particulars about what may have happened to her. The writers, Sabina Murray (screenplay and story with Lingard Jervey), and director Hans Petter Moland, focus on certain trivial details, while ignoring other, more fundamental concerns. I’m sure they and the producers wanted to raise awareness about the aforementioned trade involving human lives, but they never take a look at the people involved in organizing shipments. I think if you want to make a film dramatizing the plight of refugees, you need to pay at least some bit of attention to the behind the scenes activities. I would have liked to have seen some of the logistics involved. The film is not opening nationally until July 8, so I believe the producers may tinker a bit with it before then. I hope so, because in the end “The Beautiful Country” is very touching and optimistic, something you really don’t get a sense of along the way to that end. A few more scenes would enhance this film to the point it really could be considered a great film, and not just a decent one. Of further note, the film was shot on location in Viet Nam, New York and Texas. Overall Rating: B- |
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