The Beautiful Country Film

In my opinion the film was beautiful yet simple.  I really appreciated this movie particularly because of Binh. I think it would have been easy for the writers to make Binh aggressive, revengeful, and have more of a common talkative attitude. So I love that the writers made Binh have the characteristics of someone who grew up as a “Bui Doi”. When Ling asked Binh “why you look at me like that? Why won’t you look at me?” Binh said because he was never allowed to play with children growing up and so he doesn’t look at anyone. He has “the face of enemy”. To me that scene was arguably the most impactful compared to the rest because it was at that moment the audience learned the truth about the consequences of the Vietnam War.  The ending of the film was very impactful as well; more so for Binh’s character than the audience. A few important details that happened to Binh included:

  1. Ling confessed she didn’t love Binh in return. And it is implied to choose to marry a much older richer American man.
  2. While gambling Binh learns any Vietnamese child of an American soldier and Vietnamese mother can fly for free.  This makes him feel even guiltier for his brother’s death. Because that means he never had to die.
  3. Escapes debt for his passage to America because he is U.S. citizen.
  4. Finds his father and learns the truth about why he left/abandoned his mother.  While married to Binh’s mother, he was blinded at work one day. The next thing he knew, he was waking up in a Maryland hospital bed with no vision. He couldn’t go back to Vietnam once the war had ended and he didn’t want to go back anyways because as a blind man he thought Binh’s mother was better off without him.

Binh’s father implies that he knows Binh is his son and that he’s glad Binh is with him now. The final scene ends with the two laughing and joking as Binh cuts his father’s hair. It seems that by the end at least some of Binh’s anguish and pain is beginning to heal.

My workout

Since I have decided to write about my obsession on weight lifting and health and fitness I thought It would be prudent to discuss some of my own ventures in the subject such as my current workout program and personal goals in my weight lifting Journey, which I will spread throughout many post in this blog. My current weight lifting program is designed by my coach Jeff Alberts who is one of four coaches associated with the Team 3dmj which is a bodybuilding/fitness coaching company.

I currently do weight training on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursday, Fridays and Saturdays with 3-4 cardiovascular sessions lasting 20 to 30 minutes a piece spread throughout the week. Furthermore training program is broken down into a Lower Body Power day on Monday ( Heavy weight, less reps), Upper Body Power day on Tuesday. A day off on Wednesday, which is followed by Hypertrophy(less weight more reps) workouts on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Thursday is dedicated to push movements such as dumbbell presses and shoulder presses. Friday is a leg day with lifts such as deadlifts, front squats, and lunges. Friday is dedicated to pull movements, such bent over barbell rows.

This is just a taste of the training I do and just wanted to give you all an idea of the way in which my weight program is set up. Please comment with any questions.

Thoughts and Questions on the Film “The Beautiful Country”

First off if you haven’t seen this film, “The Beautiful Country” then you must rent it and watch it. It was a touching film that was both interesting and moving, hitting on many emotions ranging from sad to happy. It also was very educational and eye opening. Before this film I never thought much on the subject of the children fathered by American GI’s during the Vietnam War. This film gives insight to the struggles these children faced, and the hate they endured by their fellow Vietnemese citizens, as they were seen has having the face of their enemy since they were the product of their American fathers.

Furthermore, I had a few question regarding this film and on the children who were ostresized due to being half American and half Vietnamese. The first question is in regards to Bihn and his father Steve. What was the reason for him not coming out right away and telling Steve that he was his son? Especially after he waited so long and endured so much to finally reach his father.

Secondly, I wondered what happened to Bihn’s mother after Bihn and Tam left? Did she survive. Was she imprisoned? It is a piece of the story that was left untold and is a question that would be impossible to answer, but definitely made me curious of her fate.

Overall I found this movie extremely enjoyable and loved the way the plot moved along throughout the movie. Even better I loved the fact that the movie had a Happy ending with Bihn  building a bond with his father Steve. Yet again this is a must see film.

The Beautiful Country

My initial thoughts about this film are a little disjointed. Despite Chico’s claim that it will “Get better”, this was certainly a heartbreaking movie.

“He’s not one of us. I don’t know why he doesn’t go where he belongs” – Pham

“You will always be out of place wherever you go…And poor” – Ship Captain

The treatment of bui doi was totally new to me. Because of globalization, histories of colonialism, and racist beauty standards, mixed race folks with white ancestry and lighter skin are sometimes afforded privileges in countries that are predominantly POC. It makes sense that the experience of the children of GI’s would be very different, especially given the resentment towards American military intervention in Vietnam, and the prevalence of bui doi who were the children of sex workers.

Significance of title
The Beautiful Country. Does the title refer to Vietnam or the United States? Binh refers to the United States as a “beautiful country”, and his father says the same thing about Vietnam. Beauty holds deeper meaning than landscapes, it represents potential, love, escape from poverty.

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Strangers From a Different Shore: Book, page. 1-75

“An Asian American told an interviewer: “I am a second generation Korean American without any achievements in life and I have no education. What is it you want to hear from me? My life is not worth telling to anyone” (Takaki, p. 9).  I felt this quote was important because it shows how Asian Americans are clearly stereotyped. Typically the stereotype is Asian Americans are extremely intelligent when it comes to math and science. But like the quote shows if an Asian American doesn’t have a significant amount of education then society  views them as not worthy of pretty much anything.

Why had I left home?” a newcomer asked. “What would I do in America? I looked into the faces of my companions for a comforting answer, but they were as young and bewildered as I, and my only consolation was their proximity and the familiarity of their dialects.” They could feel the liminality of the land awaiting them. Would everything be “familiar and kind”? the newcomers wondered. Or were they merely seeing illusions, harboring hopes that would “vanish,” too?”  (Takaki, p. 74)

I believe this quote is also important because it shows the feelings and emotions of the Asian immigrants. I think the key words within the quote are “liminality,” “companions,” “young,” familiarity,” “kind,” “wondered,” “hopes,” and “vanish.” When I read this it was a lot easier for me imagine myself in their shoes. It’s really sad and compelling to read what their first thoughts were when they arrived. Like how the person is looking for any comfort, but they cannot find it because everyone around them is in the same situation. And then another important section of the quote is the last part: “the newcomers wondered. Or were they merely seeing illusions, harboring hopes that would “vanish,” too?” To me, I translated this as “Is America really all it’s cracked up to be?”

The Beautiful Country – impressions

Just some quick impressions about The Beautiful Country -

First of all, the movie was a decent flick. Very artistic, slow and demands some patience, but altogether I enjoyed it. The film does not pull any punches when it comes to showing how miserable these people’s lives can be and I thought it was interesting how it didn’t offer closure or happiness for everybody – Binh loses his little brother Tam and Ling, despite ending up in America, continues her life as a prostitute. Binh and Ling’s relationship was very interesting as well as they are two outcasts clinging to one another in a world of strangers. I had half expected them to stick together until the end, but there really isn’t a happy ending here – they go their separate ways with the feeling of so much left unsaid. I also enjoyed the ending very much. In a Hollywood ending, you would probably see the son reunite the father and the mother or something, but I love how it just ends with the two joking around with each other. To me, this had more heart than the traditional happy ending because it kept it very simple.

Two more observations -

- Movie felt very episodic, with each part having it’s own feel, characters and scenario. Binh is the only constant of course, but the story goes through different chapters – Vietnam, the Refugee Camp, the Ship, New York City, Binh’s Journey to Texas, and ultimately that Texas Ranch or whatever. When I saw Nick Nolte and Tim Roth’s names, I expected them to be more frequent through the movie, but was surprised to see them really confined to a single scenario of Binh’s life. You could really take each chapter of Binh’s journey and analyze it on it’s own because they are very distinct.

- I have to ponder this one for a little longer but I felt that “shoes” were an important, recurring image throughout the film. There are numerous shots of people’s feet throughout the film as well as references to Binh becoming a shoemaker or something like that. Binh is a barefoot servant in Vietnam with his mother, and I remember a shot of him looking at people’s shoes in the Big House. I think shoes can be seen a sign of status or class, and perhaps serve as a metaphor for who we are? Or perhaps the phrase “walk a mile in someone else’s shoes” plays a role here?  At one point in the camp, Binh is looking at Ling’s dressy shoes, but then when he sees her barefoot when they are working (I think it’s when it gets all muddy or something) he says he sees who she truly is. I dunno, just something I picked up on. This movie definitely has a thing for shoes.

here comes the sun

The Beautiful Country

One of the first things I noticed about Binh, early on in the movie, was that he had a tendency to slouch. In a world where he towered over most people around him, had to duck in market places to avoid hitting his head of knocking down any of the coverings, Binh slouched. Of course, it may have been a habit for him to do so, after living in a place where he was generally too big to most things.

Binh’s tale was a sad one, to say the least. Despite this, Binh wanted for very little himself. He never even really said that he didn’t deserve to be treated the way he was by the family he “lived” with early on in the film. Binh never complained, and only when he realized he would have nowhere else to go did he even ask about his origins.

This is especially evident as the movie goes on. When he loses that place, he finds one with his mother, Mai, and his half-brother, Tam, though it’s short lived. When he loses that place as well, he goes to the next one he can think of. The one where his father might be. But even as he tries to find that place, he loses the one he had been given and asked to protect. Despite his best efforts, Tam dies of illness and malnutrition.

It’s only then that Binh loses his cool. It’s only then that he lashes out, and we realize something else about him. He gambles, a simple game of exchanging English words, and we see that for how little he speaks, Binh knows more English than most anyone else on the ship, save for the actual crew of the ship. Binh, who has been mistreated most of his life, is very intelligent. And it would seem he made a point of learning as much English, and as much about America as he could with his limited resources, because it’s where his father came from.

He makes it to America, where he realizes not only does the woman he love not love him, but that – being the son of a GI during the war – he could have flown to America for free. He leaves then, because by all means he’s a US citizen, and he hitchhikes to Texas. He meets his father, and for the first time since Tam’s death, though it takes some time, Binh seems happy again.

As the film began to draw to a close, I realized Binh didn’t really slouch anymore.

The Beautiful Country

The Beautiful Country poster

I was really nervous when we began the movie. This photo (above) was the first image of the movie we were shown and so I immediately made my assumptions about what the movie could possibly be about. Looking at the image now, I still feel like this does not sum up what the movie is about. I’m not really sure why Binh is essentially the smallest person in this image especially when he was the protagonist of the movie. It’s also really weird seeing Ling wearing a fairly revealing dress when there was another dress in the movie that she wore more often than the one in the poster (but hey, sex sells right?!) Do I even need to point out the obvious about the two white characters who were probably in the movie for a total of 30 minutes having the largest images? Gross.

The movie was beautifully tragic. There was heartbreak left and right and I didn’t know what to expect next. I was on the edge of my seat and would gasp when something I wasn’t expecting would happen. I cried a total of two times but came close to crying a few other times. I really appreciated that the movie shows the struggle between those who are mixed breed and the struggle that they face when neither country really acknowledges or accepts you.

I am also really glad that they made Tim Roth’s character (the captain) an evil white man instead of a white savior, and I am also glad that we were not shown to pity him.

The big question that a lot of us were left asking ourselves was: “did Binh’s father realize Binh was his son?” My answer? Totally. The scene where his father touches his face a couple times in silence was when I felt that he realized it. I loved that there was no dramatic mention from Binh saying things like “CAN’T YOU SEE I AM YOUR SON?!” (yes, I know, his dad is blind), it was subtle and unconventional. I loved that they ended the movie with Binh cutting his dad’s hair and that he was asking questions about sweets in Vietnam. It makes me think that they did this on purpose as a way to showcase what Binh’s father and mother’s meeting was first like. “What goes around, comes around” in essence.

Class notes 1/14/14

1/14/14

  • Reason for Pilipina/o: There is no “F” in the (tagalog) language. The later generations used this to honor the previous ones who weren’t allowed to say this.
  • Pop culture obsession. What is it? Why is it your obsession? How does it connect to Asian/American history, culture, issues, and themes. (Rock posts on the blog)
    • Cosplay In/Equality
    • Where did it come from?
    • How has it developed over the years?
    • What other issues have developed in the community?
    • What interesting aspects have spawned from the community?
    • Site your resources.
    • Post things on blog
      • Cosplay Documentaries
      • Cosplay is not consent
      • Posting music?
      • Heroes of Cosplay
      • Comment on another’s blog.
      • Finish Hello Kitei by Thursday morning

Strangers from a Different Shore Interpretations

  • We fear that which we do not understand.
  • Xenophobia
  • Strangers: someone who is feared for not being known.
  • Asian Americans turned into “Aliens”
  • Asians in Asia. A title put upon them by others. We do not usually go around calling people Americans.
  • Perhaps it is because of history that many “Asian” countries do not happily welcome Americans.
  • Angel Island = The West coast Ellis Island. (Random thought: Wasn’t that a stage in Sonic?)
  • “Asians in Asia”, a myth in some ways. People focus more on their personal Identity.

 

 

At what point do Asians become Asian Americans?

  • Raising Cane/Cain
  • Travelers to Gold Mountain

Work to interpret the title. It’s important.

– 47 Ronin review

 

I appreciated watching this movie with our class because I have learned from the previous quarter to view movies while being consciously aware of the intrinsic and extrinsic view. I’d like to write about the ‘differences’ and the ‘Japanese characteristics’ in this movie. First, in this movie there were a lot of differences between what Japanese people made and American’s interpretation. In the movie, the clothes, hair styles, and even the wedding entertainment were a little odd to me. I had never seen the kimono which Mika wore, and also the hair style too. Shown below are two images: usually in history dramas in Japan, they wore kimonos without a neckband, and all their hairs were up except when they went to bed. Through this movie, I didn’t want everyone who watched it to think that this movie accurately portrayed the Japanese historical style, because it was so different.

篤姫image

↑This picture was from Japanese historical drama talked about “Atsuhime(1836-1883) broadcasting 2008 in Japan.

47ronin

↑This picture was from “47 ronin” advertisement.

On the other hand, this movie included many Japanese impressions. The movie was filled with a lot of beautiful colors; clothes, cherry blossoms, and so on. Especially, I have never seen so many swords in one movie. They were shown me that how important they were to connect with Japanese history. Through this movie, I’m glad to know how American people thoughts about Japanese history, because I could find Japanese wonderful culture and what I should be proud about with my history.