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.

Such a moment in history can certainly provide for an enormous amount of dramatic stories on individuals and families; nevertheless I feel like the production failed to leverage on it.Instead, the movie feels like a set of patched-up moments. At some point it looks like the scenes were put together only to 'touch' the audience, you know, any director would know that certain scenarios/situations would make the audience sigh or smile like the music scene where Whitaker and the kid paint to the sound of music; or the ones that show Tuc and his girlfriend falling in love.Dong and Whitaker's acting keep the movie going; Swayze's character (although never thought of him as a good actor) was kind of useless and was given just a set of troubled sentiments and memories to play with.

This movie seems to be experiences of various Vietnamese people during the stay in the refugee camp. It has been sentimentalized, casting it as some sort of good old memories. Plus it seems most of the people who made it out are the ones, by whatever circumstances, either having power, connection, money or being in the armed forces. So we get a view biased toward the well to do who favored what we did for them.The many little stories intertwined together gives an overall concern that most of the Vietnamese had when they first arrived, with a few like the Camp manager/Patrick Swayze character and Kid/Forest Whitaker character thrown in to reflect American's own remorse and problems.I found that some of the subjects covered to be a bit abrupt, since many of the characters were not introduced, instead were thrown into the action. Like the man with two wives, and the husband and wife with the pictures of their son, who were dragged out of their beds in the middle of the night. Seeing the deleted scenes on the DVD made the characters more rounded and their situations more understanding, allowing us to connect with them better.Many of the more important subjects seems to be lightly touched upon, and the whole American issue seem to play us out as the savior, as opposed to the aggressor. Even the radio reporting of seem to play to the fear of the well to do Vietnamese since they were the ones being preyed upon during the fall of Saigon, which is not unusual in situations where the oppressed overtakes a imperialist backed government.Most of the acting were very humanistic, but I found Patrick Swayze a bit too apathetic, never allowing us to believe that he is filled with guilt. A big part is probably his natural facial expression, which does not gear toward the sorrow look.All in all, still a good movie to see so that we would know what the people experienced when they first came to the US. A little less mush and a little more on the heavy or more controversial topics would have been welcomed.

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