THE BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY

Drama
With English subtitles as necessary

BACKGROUND
The United States occupation of Vietnam from 1965 to 1975 resulted in many children born to Vietnamese mothers and American fathers. The Asian culture does not accept mixed-race children and therefore considers these children as "bui doi”, less than dust. Their American fathers have abandoned many and the children exist only as pariahs in Vietnamese society. The mothers who decided to keep their children were made to feel ashamed by their compatriots, who consider them to be prostitutes and therefore worthless. Forced together by Vietnamese disdain and scorn, these outcasts form a distinctive ethnic group outside, although still within the Vietnamese race. Many of these children, a large part orphaned, drift into street gangs and fall into a life of crime.

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Damien Nguyen: Binh, a 17-year old living in a small village with his foster parents
Thi Kim Xuan Chau: his mother, Mai
Dang Quok Thinh Tran: his little half brother, Tam
Thu Anh: Mai's wealthy employer, Mrs. Hoa
Bai Ling: a young Chinese prostitute, Ling
Tim Roth: Captain Oh, commanding officer of a tramp freighter
Nick Nolte: Steve, a ranch hand

REVIEW
This is a moving story about the struggle of a young man having to overcome his circumstances of birth. With so many unprofessional actors involved, the acting is somewhat uneven but what they have to say and what they do is far more believable.

CLASSIFICATION
for a couple scenes of violence, brief sexual contact, profanity and the use of crude sexual slang terms.