The fifth and final documentary from the 81st Oscar list. Every year there is an outstanding episode of PBS's "Point of View" documentary series that gets, as I consider, a token nomination.The background of the story is that the United States trained a secret army in Laos to fight the North Vietnamese. When the United States pulled out of Vietnam they left this secret army with no protection and the families of the men in this army were forced to flee Laos.
The narrator was the eldest son of a family forced to leave the country, his family fled to America and their sponsors put them up in a two-bedroom slum in New York City shared by over a dozen other people. Gang warfare threatened the family and with no education, work, or ability to speak English they have been struggling for the last 13 years.
Filmed over 23 years this could have been a very powerful film. I felt that the story was lacking and a lot was covered up. What do I mean? Well we know that several of the kids were involved in gangs, a few ran away from home, and we were never really filled in on how they actually did survive. They made it out to be the American's fault for all of their problems, yet they do not blame the father who had a 2nd family, took over 13 years to find them, and was part of the secret army that didn't think about the repercussions of the Americans eventually leaving. They had to know this was a possibility.
They were given the opportunity to come to our country and start over fresh, learn the language, take a minimum wage job, get a small apartment out of the slums... there are so many success stories in this country, they were on welfare and collecting food stamps and still couldn't find the means to get a start. Most losers in a war don't get to safely leave the country.
Vote: 4/10
IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1157685/
Having not seen the film I am wondering if the film discussed what(if any) methods the sponsors utilized to aid this adoped family. Having family members who helped Vietnamese refugees relocate (2 sep. families) both families were placed in low income but safe areas; assisted with our bureaucratic system; placed into ESL classes. These family sponsors kept an eye on them and stayed in touch, 25 years later they still are in touch.
Trả lờiXóaMany sponsors abandoned these families once they arrived in the U.S. not understanding cultural differences and ensuing problems.