Released in 2004, The Beautiful Country takes place in Vietnam, 1990. “Less than dust,” young Binh is a social outcast in his small village because his father was an American GI. Binh’s adventure begins when he leaves the village to search for his mother in “the big city”– Saigon. The acting was great, cinematography wonderful and the story a good one, no matter how slow the pace. Rather than retelling the story which anyone can find that on the web, I think I’ll address a few things I found more intriguing.
Cherry blossoms. There is a scene where Binh’s mom (he finds her easily…too easily perhaps?) a servant, is gardening in the center of the frame when an ominous person enters from the left only visible from the knees down walks slowly by… then a flurry of cherry blossom leaves falls… The following scene the Lady of the house is killed by her own stubbornness and a wet floor. I’ve lost count how many times I’ve seen this theme of cherry blossom leaves used as a symbol of love, life and/or death, but I thought it was more commonly used in Japanese stories… something for me to investigate before watching the next film.
I was pleasantly surprised to see Tim Roth make an appearance as the Captain of the ship used for human smuggling. A role he played well– breaking the type-cast, for the next few hours I completely forgot of him as Pumpkin/Ringo in Pulp Fiction, or as Dr. Lightman in Lie To Me. He doesn’t play a very nice guy, but he does give our hero Binh a break while on the ship. I kept expecting to see something else happen between he and Binh as it appeared the Capt was… just not a very nice guy. Something a human-trafficer needs to be I suppose. The Captain offers to take Binh somewhere else– nicer presumably, but Binh turns him down as he is determined to reach America. “I offer a new life, you choose an old dream” says the Captain. Wise words, from a broader perspective. But Binh has another goal in mind.
His goal is to reach America and find his father. When laboring in New York paying off his debt owed to the traffickers, he is told that as the abandoned child of an American GI he could have flown to the US for free under a special visa program. Naturally he flips out after learning this. All those troubles he could have avoided… but how are social outcasts supposed to know of this in small Vietnam villages?
Tim Roth as Captain Ho
Binh finds his dad Steve, blind and living in a trailer under the big Texas sky. Binh doesn’t tell Steve that he’s his son– something the directors intentionally leave out. Once Steve learns that Binh is from Vietnam he says, “it’s a beautiful country;” a phrase repeated in the film when referring to America. They say the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence; a play on perspectives. I can’t help but think of the relationship between that statement and that of Capt. Ho’s. How well the two complement each other, yet the wisdom is found through perspective.
All-in-all, not a bad film. Anytime my mind returns to specific lines from a film two, or three days after seeing it there is obviously something valuable there. Depending on one’s perspective~
