“I offer you a new life, and you choose an old dream.”

The Beautiful Country is an often bleak film with small moments of beauty and joy.  It tells the story of a young Vietnamese man named Binh who was fathered by an American GI during the Vietnam war.  Ashamed, the mother abandons the young child.  Years later, after reuniting with his mother, Binh is forced to flee the country and head to the United States with his younger half brother.  They befriend a prostitute named Ling, and the three set out on a dangerous journey to a better life.

The film powerfully illustrates the dangerous journey that many immigrants experience on their journey to a new country.  Binh ends up in a refugee camp.  He and his companions narrowly avoid disease and starvation as they are crammed into the hull of a ship with dozens of other immigrants.  Tim Roth has a small role as the somewhat morally ambiguous captain of the boat, who makes decisions that are both sympathetic and ruthless.

I was reminded of another film I’ve seen called Sin Nombre (2009).  In that film, we followed to South American immigrants as they hopped trains riding up to the United States.  Both films portray incredibly sympathetic people trying their best to make it in a tough world.  Bing and Ling were incredible characters who were put into unthinkable positions and situations.  They carry themselves with dignity even when it seems impossible.

The movie ends with Binh reuniting with his father in a beautiful and subtle conclusion.  I think many audience members will expect some sort of tearful and dramatic conclusion, but this film goes for a much more ambiguous and subtle ending.  It’s not to be missed.  It was reminiscent of the struggles all of the characters in We Should Never Meet endure after the Vietnam War and Operation Baby Drop.