The Beautiful Country (2004)

Load of rubbish!!

As Good As It Gets

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

It was my privilege to see this movie at the Plaza Theater in Atlanta on a Saturday afternoon with about 150 Vietnamese: grandparents, parents, and kids obviously "made in the U.S.A." . . it was even a greater privilege to be allowed to sit next to a typical third grader who's command of English is far better than his understanding of the parlance of the Old Country. His folks and grandparents, uncles, etc. were all around us, but allowed the lad to ask me questions during the movie while giving his family leisure to thoroughly enjoy it. I whispered my replies as plainly as I could, given the situation, and as we walked out of the show he wished me well and genuinely thanked me (with a little familial prodding).... My situation is that I am a Vietnam veteran whose reckless, existential behavior in 1971 may well have resulted in a son or daughter, as another reviewer, ''huckfinn'', above.... Amazingly, the LORD saw fit in His grace and mercy to save me in 1973, and off and on I cast about for a way to make peace with that part of my sordid past.... well, after I had been married for almost four years, Dung Tanh Phu came into my life, a blessing from World Vision. "Young", as we called him, born just after I left The Nam, had had no little difficulty arriving to America as one of the Boat people. His aunt, Mui and he were the only ones of his family to escape in 1979. So traumatized was Young that he was a problem child in his first, foster home. When we received him (in the name of Christ), he was tubercular. The wife put him on macrobiotics for six months and amazed the folks at the St. Louis County Health Department. We kept him for three formative years and turned him back over to his aunt in somewhat less than delightful circumstances, but that's a longer story.... I won my war by having such wonderful opportunities given to me for ministry to the wonderful Vietnamese and may yet win another of my wars - if God wills - but three's a story yet to be written... suffice it to say that I dearly loved my experience of this film, and hope to share it with my grown children someday. Blessings!

The Beautiful Country Is a very well made & interesting film of a Vietnamese lad (about 20 yrs old) & his search for his American father. I have no way of knowing how true this story may or may not be, This should not deter you from seeing this poignant drama.Nick Nolte is the American Father of the lad portrayed byDamien Nguyen.He is just nothing short of excellent. Nick Nolte again proves what a fine actor he is in a short but excellent portrayal.The only other name actor is Tim Roth as the Captain of the ship that takes our intrepid young hero to America. Tim Roth also gives another fine performance. His role like Nick Nolte's is small.The other members of the cast are unknowns (to me), but are very good. The cinematography is excellent as well as the other technical credits.This is a good movie & should be seen,Rating: *** (out of 4)--88 points (out of 100) IMDb 8 (out of 10)

Young Vietnamese Binh thought that he was an orphan. But he was wrong. When he was told that his mother was still alive, he decided to find her. He had a short peaceful life with his mother until an accident broke it. His mother urged him to look for his birth father who lived in USA.Their ship suffered big stormy waves in the midway. Unluckily they were taken to Malaysia refugee camp. With the help from a Chinese girl named Ling, Binh took a ship that was leaving for America. In fact severer tests were waiting for him.As what old saying says, nothing in the world is difficult for one who is set to do it. The movie gave us a good example. Although it is a movie, it is still uplifting.Damien Nguyen's plain performance was the shining point of the movie. He had a good interpretation for the hero. Although Nick Nolte appeared for only about ten minutes, he showed me what a good actor could do.An excellent drama. 8/10

The children of American GI's in Vietnam were treated as second-class citizens – walking symbols of American control, destruction, and occupation. Binh (Damien Nguyen) lives with a foster family, can only eat their leftovers, and longs to find his own family, including the mother who couldn't support him and the American father he never knew. With only a picture of his parents, he leaves the village in search of his roots.Binh finds his mother (and a young half brother) in Saigon, but after a deadly accident, he and his new brother are forced to flee the city and the country in search of America. Binh endures the purgatory of a Malaysian refugee camp and survives the hell of an illegal slave ship.His travels are extraordinary and devastating, but the character of Binh is reason enough to see this incomparable epic. He has lived his life as an outcast, full of sorrow and shame. He rarely has the courage to look other people in the eye. But every catastrophic event in his journey brings him strength and courage, so that by the time he finds his father, he's man enough to face him. Or is he?