Review of The Beautiful Country (2004) by Urim T — 31 Jan 2012

First I wanted to know if the Vietnamese countryside was really that beautiful, then I wanted to know if the rich ppl in Saigon really behave that way toward their servants in 1990, then I started to doubt if the Malaysian refugee camps were really as depicted (detainees could move about freely, men & women were bunked next to one another), then I really question if a transpacific cargo ship would provide their "slaves" with the privacy & luxury to personal hygiene... then I found out that the min wage in Taxes was $3.80 per hour in 1990, when our protagonist was hired as a ranch hand at $2/hr, "not a cent more"...

But if you can overlook these & the abrupt corny ending, it is a tale rich in drama. Make no mistake that I liked the movie. It was a good try -- it shed light on the "bui doi" (a derogatory term that refers to a Vietnamese-born child fathered by an American soldier during the Vietnam War).