"That's a nice-a donut."
Monday, June 13, 2005
Daughter From Danang
Near the end of the long and arduous war in Vietnam in 1975, after many controversial missteps and shattered public confidence, the United States airlifted more than 2,000 children out of the country to be adopted in the States. These children weren't just orphans that needed a home (though some of them were). No, most of them had parents who loved them very much. Their crime? Being mixed Vietnamese and American babies - many with fathers from the U.S. military.
Daughter From Danang is a documentary from the PBS American Experience series that chronicles the journey home by one of these children to meet her mother and family that had to give her up over 20 years before. Heidi (her name was Americanized) was just a young girl when she was brought over in "Operation Babylift" and was adopted into a family in South Carolina, before later moving to Tennessee. This was a whole other planet compared to the poverty-stricken, war-torn life in Vietnam. It took some time before she could speak English well, and her and her adopted mother even tried to hide her origins. But she adjusted to her new life and even got married and has two kids of her own. For years she had been trying to reunite with her biological mother, and finally through a twist of fate she was able to.
For the second half of the movie we travel with Heidi to Vietnam for a weeklong reunion with her original family. Before long she realizes that the trip was a bit more than she bargained for. It is clear that she was expecting a happy, nostalgic vacation. Instead, there is major culture shock. In Vietnamese culture it is expected that you will provide and care for your family when you are able to. Her mother, Mai Thi, and her brother and sister expect that she will be able to give them money - they aren't necessarily being selfish or greedy, that's just the way it is for them. This leads to a very bittersweet and emotional ending.
The film crosses back and forth between being very enlightening, very frustrating, and very sad. The filmmaker's use old footage from the 1960s and 70s as a background to the backstories that are told about Heidi and Mai Thi. It is a nice touch, but I was slightly confused at first as to whether it was random footage or whether it was actually video of this very family. And it isn't really a fault of the film, but eventually you will find Heidi to be quite frustrating and bothersome. Overall, the story itself is extremely interesting and entertaining. In fact, I wouldn't mind seeing more babylift stories to see if the results are any different.
The Verdict: B.
Michael Bentley 10:17 AM
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