Green Dragon

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.

This is a great story told by patient and skilled filmmakers. Tim Bui and his brother Tony Bui ('Three Seasons') know how to make a touching film come alive with great characters and performances. I saw it at Sundance and felt that the performances by Forrest Whitaker and Hiep Thi Lee, and Vietnamese Actor Dong would warrant real attention at least with the Independent Spirit Awards.

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.

This movie is really good and this movie stars two actors that i really like and the actors are The great Forest Whitaker from the great movie Phone Booth and Patrick Swayze from the good movie Ponit Break.This movie some times gets a little bit boring And the acting by the hole cast in this movie is really great. There are some good scenes in this movie like when Forest Whitaker and a kid (Trung Nguyen) are panting a wall and when they finished it turned out to be really beautiful specially the Green Dragon in the painting. Over all this movie is really great and my rating is 7 out of 10.

Only a snapshot of what the Vietnamese went through, but given the current immigrant situation a poignant film. Swayze and Whitaker play relatively small parts. A feel good movie and makes you think about where these people are now.

The Green Dragon is not particularly a story of the Vietnam war but of the refugees of every war: Their fear for themselves, their missing family members and friends, and their fear of the unknown culture they are being thrust into. Their hopes and their dreams, also. The story itself is about the easy interaction between the little boy who is looking for his lost mother and the black American cook, and the uneasy interaction between the adults of both nations. The Vietnamese characters are very real in their humanity - good, bad, young, old. The film introduces certain aspects of Vietnamese culture (polygamy - filial devotion) that few Americans are acquainted with. It should be noted that the main Vietnamese actor, Don Duong, upon his return to Vietnam was put under house arrest for 6 months for "embarrassing the Vietnamese people".

Green Dragon was absolutely amazing. I found it to be very realistic in portraying what it would be like back when the Vietnamese people had to live in the refugee camps. This film is very touching as well. I loved the relationship between Minh and Addie who is played by Forrest Whitaker. The character Minh is a little boy who is forced to come to America with his uncle and his sister. He is constantly searching the camp for his mother and father. While this is going on, he develops a friendship with Addie. Addie is a cook and a talented artist. Minh and Addie bond because they both like to draw and love comics. I also liked the other parts of the story as well. Tai's character was great. He plays the camp manager and keeper of the peace. He has to deal with Minh's mother and father not being there and how he had to leave without them. There are other cool little stories mixed in, but you should watch it for yourself and find out. This really is a very moving film, and it should not be missed. 9/10

A truly great film that can only be fully appreciated by people who lived through such times. Self-hating Americans will despise the film for its (mostly) pro-American sentiments. The movie offers a brief critique of American foreign policy during the Vietnam War, but that's not what it's ultimately about. It's about loss and family and faith, and that's all there is to it. The most haunting image to me is the woman who refuses to leave the camp even after she's found a sponsor, fearing what is waiting for her outside. The soldiers have to drag her out by force because she's so terrified. IT's sequences like that that comes from personal experience and can't be fabricated. The filmmakers probably lived through this themselves (I don't know, I don't know them or know their background) to be able to write/direct such a moving film. Sure, it's sentimental, but so what? People who dislike this movie because it's somehow TOO sentimental needs to call the cops because they lost their heart and soul somewhere along the way.

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 intent of the film was good, however, the execution lacked the emotional punch that could have resulted from the storyline. We've seen the subplots before: the angry officer sympathizes with the foreigners, the big misfit befriends a young boy, the rebel in the crowd shouting out against the system..etc. This is a quiet film and while not that bad, it didn't seem to capture the elements of "camp life" well enough to give me a sense of the refugee's fear of leaving the safe camp and starting a new life in America. There were moments in the film that had potential, but overall, it seemed a dull cinematic experience. Not much happens in this movie. Go see "Heaven and Earth" instead.