The Beautiful Country

A teenage boy, Binh, is brought up by foster parents in the Vietnamese countryside. Born to a Vietname~e mother and an American father, who was a soldier during the Vietnam War, Binh wears the face of the country's enemy and is treated as a half breed outcast. When he is kicked out of his home, he decides to look up his real mother in Ho Chi Min City. When he finds her, she is in bad health due to poor living conditions, and lives with Binh's younger brother Pam. Together, the two brothers leave the city in order to look up their father, who allegedly lives in America.
Moland and his cinematographer do not exoticise either East or West, but rather lenses Ho Chi Minh City and New York in a similar way. The journey moves across lands and seas, as well as across the soul and self-identification of the protagonist. Politics and soul searching are perfectly mixed together through cinematography and outstanding acting performances (Damien Nguyen, Nick Nolte, Tim Roth) in a film with a title referring to the Chinese name for America, mei guo. However, ironically, according to Bihn's father, ''the beautiful country'' is actually someplace else.

NATALIE MAJERSKI

Premiärstatus
Svensk premiär: Medverkande
Nick Nolte, Tim Roth, Bai Ling: Producent
Petter Borgli: Manus
Sabina Murray: Foto
Stuart Dryburgh: Musik
Zbigniew Preisner: Talat språk
English