Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Bea Swanson This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

eddie_baggins A little known Terrence Malick produced drama, The Beautiful Country is a quietly touching study of finding oneself in this great big world and a globe spanning journey for a likable and caring young man who was shunned by his countryman through his hard and unforgiving upbringing.Dealing with the not well known facet of Vietnamese lifestyle, where those children born to both Vietnamese and American parents are treated as outcasts, Norwegian director Hans Petter Moland handles the tricky subject matter with aplomb and whether his camera roams the countryside of Vietnam, the refugee camps of Malaysia or the American landscape, The Beautiful Country is most certainly a handsomely crafted tale that shuns its low end budget to create a film that feels both lavish and grand in the non-traditional sense.Throughout almost every scene in this tale is Binh, who after years of wondering decides to set off to not only meet his natural Vietnamese mother but find his G.I American father. Played by then newcomer Damien Nguyen (who in the time since this film has virtually disappeared from the acting scene), Binh is a likable character and is just one of many colourful and realistic characters that create a vibrancy and realism in The Beautiful Country that makes it really something special.Throughout Binh's journey to the lands of America he meets his loving mother, Bai Ling's confused yet kind hearted Ling, Tim Roth's people smuggling boat captain Oh and undoubtedly most importantly Nick Nolte's one time G.I Steve, who Nolte plays with great power. Each of these characters whether on screen for extended periods or brief periods are well designed and constructed and each performer gives it theie all with Bai Ling in particular delivering what could well be her best ever performance.It's not hard to see why a visionary like Malick put his name to such a heartfelt piece of movie making and while The Beautiful Country stumbles in certain areas and at times feels hampered by its production constraints, there's still a touching tale that shines uttermost throughout. It's a shame more have not seen this journey and a shame also that director Moland has not found this vision again in his more recent career but we can be thankful that The Beautiful Country is here for us now to watch and appreciate.4 angry Jango Fett's out of 5

pylgrym 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!

pc95 Whoever wrote the script and dialogue did this movie a huge disfavor. Anytime that Binh uses English, it sounds terribly forced and phony. Had the director/storyteller/editors/writers caught this and called for perhaps just ad-libbing or improvisation or perhaps more rewrites etc from/for the actors the movie probably would've been good. As it is the story is interesting and the cinematography at times captivating. The love interest which could've lifted the movie is made to suffer and actually detracts from the movie with lines like "Have no 2000 dollars" and "Boat no go without Ling" or something to that effect. The actors basically are caught red-handed with conversations to spew out that unnecessarily dumb everything down and point to how ignorant and stereotyped the writers preconceived notions are of non-English Asian speakers. The movie unfortunately is something of a mixed bag with great performances from most despite the English mess.

Charles Delacroix I just saw this movie today, although it's been in release here for several weeks, I think. I was deeply moved.This is truly a beautiful movie: above all about Beauty and Ugliness. The main character, Binh, we're told very early in the movie, is Ugly; his mother is Beautiful; and the rest of the film displays a constant tension between the question What is Beauty? and the question What is Ugliness? The hooker's looks contrast sharply with Binh's. The limpid, natural beauty of Vietnam contrasts sharply with the cold, commercial ugliness of New York. The ugly interior of the ship contrasts sharply with the beauty of the sea. The culminating sequence in which Binh finds his father also says things about perception of Ugliness and Beauty that I don't think I can comment too much on without, perhaps, giving too much of the story away.The actor who played Binh was truly superb, in my opinion. Nick Nolte was excellent, but really more of a cameo; Binh is the main character in the story, and carries his persona well.I do have to note some disappointing features.First, it is perhaps natural in a movie about Vietnam not to include social commentary on ethnicity and race. Yet the 100% uniform (no exception, as far as I know) depiction of White Anglos as either racist or exploitive or both, is literally racist. I guess this kind of depiction is "PC" but if so, frankly it's time for "PC" to grow up. No one who's actually been to Texas, for example, would think that all white Texans go around calling everybody else "boy". Please. This kind of obvious inauthenticity is bound to call into question much else in the film's racial and ethnic commentary.There were some technical problems. In the open boat, when Binh awakes to find a fruit floating in the water, he looks first to his left, then to his right, and only then straight ahead to find land prominently on the horizon directly in front of him. It's a small thing but very inauthentic. People tend to look dead ahead first, not to the side. And a few other items like this too I think, can't recall offhand, but I remember noticing them at the time.But none of this detracts from the overall beauty of The Beautiful Country ... and the complex and challenging examination it poses of Beauty and Ugliness in many, many expressions. A wonderful movie.