Beautiful Country, The (Revisited)
© A.J. Malouin 2008
(Ratings: 4 by Caryl and [now] 4 by Al )
(See our side-bar page “How Caryl & Al & The Film Snob Rate Movies”)
(2004/ USA/Norway. Directed by Hand Petter Moland)
“The Beautiful Country” is an ambitious and beautiful undertaking, and now you will be hard-pressed to find it on a large screen unless you have an in-home theatre. As we tolt you after Caryl saw it in-theatre, “The Beautiful Country” follows the journey of Binh, from a Vietnamese village, to Saigon, to a refugee ship, to a Malaysian refugee camp, to a cruel sea-crossing, to NYC, to Texas, USA. Binh is the son of a Vietnamese woman and an American invader-soldier. He’s attempting to find his mother, and then his father. In the aftermath of another American tragedy (The Vietnam War) here is a beautiful story, well-photographed, well-written and well-executed. In the film, the Vietnamese call America “the beautiful country.” Binh’s now-blind invader-soldier father calls Vietnam “the beautiful country.” Everyone is correct! This is no ordinary love story. From the beginning, it shows that some truly beautiful things are invariably born from the terror of day-to-day living. (2 hour 5.)