Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

dallasryan A must see film in my opinion. The Asian people have definitely suffered much as it shows in this film and many other films and documentaries. The Asian people do endure though as the Second Wife says in this film(which she's absolutely stunning to look at by the way). Patrick Swazye holds his own with some good acting and to prove even more that he was a very good actor, and very much an icon with his magnificent presence.The three that really steal the movie though are Duong Don who plays the Uncle and then Forest Whitaker as the Cook and Trung Nguyen as little Minh. Whitaker and Minh steal the movie with every scene they are in together, and a pre-showcase at showing what a fantastic actor Forest Whitaker is as he's being recognized for his acting now. Lot's of different story lines going on, and all very true to the people, circumstance, culture and time. See this film for it's everything that it is.

filigerr I honestly do not understand why this movie is getting the kind of reviews it is getting.The acting was brilliant in all fields, I found the little boy who play Minh's character amazing, especially for that age.Very touched by the stories of every individual just because they where in a camp away from all the war doesn't mean the war is not there(including Swayze's and Whitaker's charterers of course). I found that the story to bring out a different part of the Vietnam war that is constantly looked over, well every war for that matter.Strictly a movie that is about people life story. I keep seeing reviews how they felt it was an "Anti-American" film because of a few scenes... Honestly the movie about the emotions of the people who is not in their home country that is being torn up from their own people, and their only way out is to live in a camp that is completely foreign. Try to comprehend that.This is a very good movie and it is worth a watch.

fredhag I honestly cannot express how much the movie moved me. I was an emotional wreck at the end of the movie, and that is saying a lot for an old jarhead. Without being an expert or having lived through the turmoil of the time time and place, I can only guess that the movie did a fine job touching on many if not most of the challenges, pressures, and sources of depression that came with being a Vietnamese refugee.

eyalsun The sanctification of U.S. soldiers in this movie goes far beyond oversentimantalism, to the realm of fantasy and even absurdity. I was really sickened by this movie and did not finish watching in spite of the fact that at times the acting was quite good, excelent even, especially from the children, Forest, and some of the adult Vietnamese cast.But the manner in which this movie attempts to hammer-down U.S. apologism for the war is so blatant, so unrealistic, and in this sense insidious.Sure the films attempts to have us empathize with Vietnamese (for a change), that's very rare for U.S. Vietnam war films, infitesimally so. But, of course, these are the pro-U.S. Vietnamese, so the unspeakably gentle Americans can be presented in an entirely positive way. Their only shortcoming is that they were not able to win. But the millions of Vietnamese who died for their National Liberation (as I said in another review, Ho Chi Minh was their George Washington -- out of 40 million Vietnamese very few chose not to fight for the -only-, yes only, National Liberation movement which fought against both the French & the U.S. all the same).Of course, this movie would like us to forget these realities at all costs because it has a hidden agenda. One would never know about these dynamics from the movie. The gross and unrealistic santification also extends to a South Vietnamese General, for example. And that was it for me. I couldn't go on with it. I got the point: the U.S. and the tiny so-called "South Vietnamese" forces were good, the NVA and the rest of Vietnam bad. Now let's paint some cute pictures. Revolting and condescending. This movie is for Americans only, but not all Americans (see I don't have such a low perception of the American population, not all of them would so thoughtlessly buy into this sel-findulgent tripe). If you're an American whose education consists strictly on spoon-fed government propaganda and Holywood as a scholarly authority, you will like this movie, go for it I guess. But any other American with a dose of citical thought would feel the same way I do, I'm sure.In closing, this movie is intended for (though not recommended to anyone) the not-too-bright oversentimental without-a-dose of a history-lesson or critical thought Americans.It is to be AVOIDED AT ALL COSTS, however, by anyone who is:An American with half-a-brain.Anyone else from Earth, and especially from Vietnam.------------ Post Script: ------------Funny, they mention the genocidal regime known as Khmer Rouse (sp.) in Cambodia, but it is said in passing so as to juxtapose it to the evil Vietnamese. Except it was the Vietnamese Communist forces who in 1979 invaded Cambodia and physically ousted the Khmer Rouse from power, ending the latter's genocide of 4 million Cambodians. So, for those of you who thought this movie was good, realistic, and without hidden patriotic agendas, I hope the Irony is not lost on you. But I fear it will.1/10