The Beautiful Country

Well-meaning, but contrived and manipulative. Binh's journey is frought with one clichéd hardship after another, and each is milked for maximum sentiment. The script lurches in stops and starts, laboriously making its way towards the ending, which is the most restrained and satisfying part of the picture. You care about what happens to Binh, which makes it all the more frustrating that his story is so hackneyed (would you believe there's even a hooker with a heart of gold?).

Good performances, but too many cliches.

decent iirc

Well done, but a little too straight forewards and lame storytelling, nothing new. Story was not strong enough to impress, except in the very end. All hight points for Nick Nolte.

I can appreciate what Moland is trying to do here, he just doesn't do it too well.

The other side of Vietnam. A harrowing film, if a trifle overwrought, but the ending is excellent.

This film presents situations that by all rights should be very sad and moving, yet it doesn't quite stick. The script is intermittently weak and strong, only truly going off the rails when Binh makes it to America. The very end where Binh meets his father is the most unusual and daring part of the film, and made me disappointed when I realized that the whole movie could've had that kind of tone to it.

"Moland's humanistic story about xenophobia, man's persevering spirit, and life's bitter ironies only stumbles during its final act." - Nick Schager

Quite good.

well shot and acted