Themes: Immigrant Life, Discovering One's Heritage, Journey of Self-Discovery
Main Cast: Arthur Nascarella, Damien Nguyen, Nick Nolte, Tim Roth, Bai Ling, Temuera Morrison, John Hussey
Release Year: 2004
Country: US/NO
Run Time: 136 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
A Vietnamese man looking for a better life embarks on a dangerous and eye-opening voyage to America in this powerful drama set during the early '90s. In 1990, Binh (Damien Nguyen) is a man in his early twenties who has never known his parents, though he is clearly of mixed-race parentage, which makes him an outcast in his community. Weary of being treated like an animal, Binh sets out to find his mother, Mai (Thi Kim Xuan Chau), only to discover she works as a servant for a wealthy family who subject her to constant abuse, and that she has a baby son. When a household accident leads to the death of the matriarch, Mai, her infant, and Binh go on the run. Mai then confesses to Binh that she's dying, gives him all the money she has, and implores him to leave Vietnam for America, with his half-brother in tow. Unable to travel to America legally, Binh attempts to smuggle his way into the States aboard a ship; he's found out, and is sent to a prison camp in Malaysia, where he meets Ling (Bai Ling), a beautiful woman who has been forced into prostitution to support herself. Befriending Ling, Binh eventually arranges for passage to America aboard a refugee ship, though the harrowing voyage claims the life of Binh's half-brother. Binh and Ling arrive in New York City as illegal aliens, and soon learn that life in America can be just as harrowing as what they left behind; eventually, Binh runs away, hoping to make his way to Texas where he's learned that his father is living. Produced by Terrence Malick, The Beautiful Country also features supporting performances from Nick Nolte and Tim Roth. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Cinematically The Beautiful Country is a fairly conventional melodrama, but it's a very powerful and well-acted one, with an unusual story broaching sociopolitical topics too seldom explored in mainstream movies of the early 21st century. Although Nick Nolte (playing the protagonist's long-lost American father) received top billing for his small part, the film is really carried by Damien Nguyen in his role as the half-Vietnamese, half-American young man who undertakes an epic odyssey across three countries and an ocean. Several interesting issues are touched upon, either in passing or in depth. Those include the scorn heaped upon war children of mixed ancestry in Vietnam; the oppression of lower classes that remained among Vietnamese citizenry even after the Vietnam's War end; the stateless displacement in Malaysian refugee camps; the exploitation of illegal refugees by Western mercenaries; the incredible hardships those refugees endure to escape to America; the fall of decent women into prostitution in order to survive; and the destruction wrought by the Vietnam War on the lives of American soldiers such as Nolte. It's a lot to hold together, particularly over a narrative that moves from rural Vietnam to Saigon, Malaysia, an ocean crossing, New York, and Texas. Holding it together is the stoic resiliency of Nguyen, determined to maintain his dignity even though all cultures seem to discriminate against and reject him, developing a toughness without compromising his fundamental sense of justice and decency. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Movie Guide
Tranh Dang Quoc Thinh - Tam; Thi Kim Xuan Chau - Mai; Anh Thu - Mrs. Hoa; Khuong Duc Thuan - Mrs. Hoa's Son; Vu Tang - Servant; Than Kien Nguyen - Riley; Bui Ti Hong - Crippled Woman; Chapman To - Chingmy; Arthur Nascarella - Gruff; Thu Anh - Mrs. Hoa; Glen Bradford - Wayne; Xuan Phuc Dins - Pham; Damien Hung - Eng; Thi Hoa Mai - Wa; Man-Chat To - Chingmy; Dang Quoc Thinh Tran - Tam
Credit
Sturla Einarson - Art Director, Lynne Moon - Art Director, Avy Kaufman - Casting, Tran Anh Hoa - Casting, Alice Chan - Casting, Anne Pedersen - Costume Designer, Dominique Delany - First Assistant Director, Hans Petter Moland - Director, Wibecke Rønseth - Editor, Greg Woertz - Executive Producer, Sam Nazarian - Executive Producer, Jan Okern - Executive Producer, Zbigniew Preisner - Composer (Music Score), Karl Juliusson - Production Designer, Stuart Dryburgh - Cinematographer, Petter Borgli - Producer, Terrence Malick - Producer, Edward R. Pressman - Producer, Tomas Backstrom - Producer, Sturla Einarson - Sound/Sound Designer, Petter Fladeby - Sound/Sound Designer, Kim Dalum - Sound/Sound Designer, Sabina Murray - Screen Story, Lingard Jervey - Screen Story, Larry Gross - Screenwriter, Sabina Murray - Screenwriter
The film tells the story of a Binh, a "bui doi" Vietnamese boy (fathered by an American soldier during the Vietnam War). After a life of prejudice and servitude, Binh decides to leave his tiny Vietnamese village and search for his mother in Saigon. Binh finds his mother, Mai, and discovers he has a younger brother, energetic and precocious Tam. Mai is employed by Mrs. Hoa, the cruel mistress of a great house. After getting a job at the house with his mother, Binh discovers that she is sexually harassed constantly by Mrs. Hoa's son.
While dusting with his mother, Binh lifts a red glass statue of Buddha, a precious family heirloom, to allow his mother to dust. As Binh lifts the statue to see it glow in the sun, the mistress walks in and charges Binh, calling him a thief. As Binh tries to keep the Buddha safe in his arms, the mistress slips on a wet patch of the floor, falling to her death. Binh and his mother quickly escape the house back to their apartment. They frantically pack the belongings of Binh and Tam. His mother gives them American money, the address of Binh's American father, and passage on a boat.
Binh and Tam both make it onto a boat bound for the United States, but a storm knocks them off course and instead takes them to Malaysia. Stuck in a refugee camp, Binh and Tam adapt to their new circumstances and meet Ling, a Chinese prostitute whose passage to America was also detoured to Malaysia. Binh and Ling seem to develop feelings for each other, kissing after Ling sings a ballad in Mandarin and dances for him.
Ling had been selling sexual favors for some time (though she dreams of a life as a singer) and had managed to buy herself, Binh, and Tam's way out of the refugee complex and onto a barge captained by the British Captain Oh. During the voyage Binh, Ling, and Tam suffer under shortages of food and rationing of fresh water. A gambling game (two contenders shout off American brand names in succession) threatens the other passengers by unfairly winning their food, water, and money. Several people succumb to the conditions, as does little Tam. A heartbroken Binh and Ling give him a funeral at sea.
The immigrants finally reach the United States, but are quickly rushed into transport trucks, bound for Chinatown in New York City. Binh works at a Chinese restaurant as a delivery boy and Ling works in a Chinatown cabaret, though she still keeps prostitution as her main source of income. Ling eventually meets a wealthy businessman to support her. Binh's feelings for Ling go unanswered. Binh sends a letter explaining Tam's death to his mother, along with all the money he had saved thus far.
Binh finds out (over a poker game with his friends) that Vietnamese children born to American fathers are allowed free airplane passage to the United States and granted citizenship. Angry because he didn't have to lose his brother, he promptly leaves his job and hitch hikes toward Austin, Texas, meeting amputee Vietnam War veterans and a Hispanic family along the way. Upon reaching the address Binh finds a woman, his father's ex-wife. His father had relocated after their divorce, working as a handyman at a ranch in Sweetwater, Texas. Binh is finally confronted with his father, blinded after opening a crate filled with explosives he thought was beer during the war. While Binh doesn't confess that he's his son, his father realizes it and the film ends with Binh and his father joking and laughing as he cuts his father's hair.
