Missing in America

source: Missing in America

Considering the often harsh votes on movies here on IMDb, I was looking forward to this unknown movie scoring a 6.6. After watching it, though, it's completely beyond me how this movie ever got that rating. It lacks pretty much any kind of involving story-arc, seemingly patching a series of rather unrelated events together. Despite the seasoned cast, acting is wooden and dialog contrived. The girl in the lead role is just too old to get away with her part, though the layers of make-up probably didn't help her any. As mentioned, the story lacks real surprises. Despite dealing with the serious subject of Vietnam veterans, it is just too sweet to be credible. This movie could go straight to Hallmark Channel and never be noticed.

This is a truly wonderful movie. It surprised the hell out of me. I was all prepared to be bored out of my skull having to sit through one of those "war is bad for you" Hollywood movies. Instead the time flew by and I found myself deeply touched. Danny Glover plays a Vietnam war veteran hiding away from the world whose life, and the lives of those around him, gets transformed by a young Vietnamese girl (Zoe Weizenbaum) who is left with him by an old army buddy. Linda Hamilton plays a store keeper who is their point of contact with the "real" world. Sounds a bit wishy-washy but believe me its not. There is some kind of comfortable chemistry between Glover, Weizenbaum, and Hamilton that draws you in and makes you really care. Linda Hamilton says more with just the expressions on her face than any number of words. I think of all the movies I have seen Glover and Linda Hamlton perform in this is the only one that proves them as truly great. As for Weizenbaum, well I don't know if someone that young can win an Oscar, but I hope so. The rest of the supporting cast were spot on too. Having said all that, the movie as a whole is flawed by old-fashioned poorly constructed flash-backs and some useless scenes in the middle that could be cut and more scenes added at the end to add more impact. I have the feeling that if a surgeon like Kieslowski made this movie it would end up as a classic. Flawed and yet I gave it 10/10. In closing my advice is to go see it and tell your friends about it so hopefully it will get distributed more widely.

The veteran Vietnam lieutenant Jake Neeley (Danny Glover) lives alone in a cabin in the woods and his only contact with the civilization is through the owner of a small store, Kate (Linda Hamilton), who periodically supplies his provisions. The solitary Jake helps other lonely veterans that live in the forest giving them part of his supplies and receiving wood in return. When Jake is visited by the former private of his platoon Henry R. Hocknell (David Strathairn), who has lung cancer, Henry asks him to raise his Vietnamese daughter Lenny Hocknell (Zoë Weizenbaum). The widow Henry has no family and he will be subjected to a severe treatment of cancer. The reluctant Jake says no, but Henry leaves his daughter and vanishes. Along his contact with the young girl, Jake improves his behavior until a tragedy happens. "Missing in America" is a sad story about losses and consequences of a war in the life of the survivors. Danny Glover and the débutant Zoë Weizenbaum have great performances in this tragic film. It is very impressive also the memorial wall in Washington shown in the end of the film, with thousands of names of soldiers that died in Vietnam. Considering that this percentage is very small when comparing with the deaths of Vietnamese (see Obs.), and recalling the deaths of Americans and Iraqi in the recent invasion, I guess what would be necessary to make people live in peace in the world and stop killing each other. Each one of these names has a family that misses the loss of the beloved relative. This movie also shows that the aftermath of a war leaves deep scars even in the survivors, losers or winners. My vote is six. Title (Brazil): "Cicatrizes da Guerra" ("Scars of the War") Obs: 1) "The Vietnam War cost the United States 58000 lives." (http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/modules/vietnam/index.cfm). 2) "Documents declassified by the Vietnamese government in 1995, revealed that 5.1 million people, died during the Hanoi's conflict with the United States. Four million civilians died in both the North and South. Total military casualties were put at 1.1 million and 600,000 wounded. Hanoi concealed the figures during the war to avoid demoralizing the population." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War).

I saw Missing in America at the Woods Hole Film Festival this past weekend. Danny Glover gives his finest dramatic performance ever in this role. Zoe Weizenbaum gives an outstanding premiere performance, standing up well to Glover and evidencing a lot of natural ability. The rest of the cast blends well. The location is beautiful, shot in British Columbia...The film is especially poignant, reminding us of the trauma that the Vietnam War inflicted on its participants and raising questions about what might be coming as soldiers return from places like Afghanistan and Iraq. I hope this film makes a theatrical release...I think a lot of people would like to see it. Terrific.

I really hope lots of people get to see "Missing in America." It's a well-told story that uncovers some of the aftereffects of that mistaken military tragedy. War-is-Tragedy has been said before, but obviously, not often enough and this film says it in a new way. Through Jake (Danny Glover), a hermit vet whose pain from the war is under layers and layers of scar tissue, we understand how painful war is and how wrong battles can go. From seeing his near-total withdrawal and through flashbacks we learn that good men and innocent women and children were killed for what amounted to nothing. The North won. Jake takes in (reluctantly) a wonderful half-Vietnamese girl(played by Zoe Weizenbaum). He snaps at her but mostly she holds her own and eventually melts his heart along with the hearts of some other GI hermits. The fights and the heart connections between Jake and the girl are so smooth and jaw-dropping real that you don't even know you're in a theater. I think the ending of this movie is partly what makes it a great film but it is an unexpected turn of events and you should probably stop here and just go see the film if you want to be surprised. After viewing come back to read that: The sad ending is part of how the film screams for more healing to be done. More crying. So many people were scarred. The ending gives you the result of what happens when you ignore the pain and damage that this war has done. And aren't we in another war that is also like a civil war and is also being waged by leadership that has made no effort to understand the culture and ideology of the "combatants?" Perhaps not grieving Viet Nam has just come back to take another serious bite out of our hearts and souls. "Condemned to repeat it," . . . and all that.

I just saw Zoe Weizenbaum with Danny Glover in "Missing in America." It was featured at the Northampton Independent Film Festival, which presented Zoe with the best new actress award. The film is an actor's film. Danny Glover's best performance since To Sleep With Anger. But Zoe is amazing in her first movie part, playing an Amero-Vietnamese girl who is left with a Vietnam Vet, played by Glover. It is a disturbing film about the effects of war on many of my generation, and there were some very appreciative Vietnam vets in the audience. Zoe lives in nearby Amherst and discussed her role after the screening. One of the vets handed her a letter he had written his Mom from Vietnam. He had the same nickname in Nam as one of the characters in the film, Dink, which comes from the Vietnamese term for "crazy." You could tell the film meant a lot to him. While the film reminds us of the ongoing personal damage of the combat experience, it is also a healing film, and Zoe carries the healing power of a child's innocence with subtle grace throughout the film. Everyone should see this film. Tom Gardner Amherst, MA

I was lucky enough to see the film at the Seattle International Film Festival(SIFF) on May 28, 2005. Danny Glover and the rest of the cast did a superb job portraying these wounded human beings. I think the time is right for a film to discuss the long-term effects on Veterans and their families. Just because a conflict is over doesn't mean that those people affected aren't still experiencing its horrors. The directing, cinematography and script along with the acting, in my opinion, makes this film worthy of a national viewing. Danny Glover, Linda Hamilton, and Ron Perlman's performances were believable and memorable. The young girl in the movie did a great job for her first film. Also, at SIFF the writers of the script stated that the characters in the film are based on real characters in the Northwest. While watching the film, I found some of the behaviors of the characters not realistic, such as dropping food off for people living in the wilderness; however, that information was stated to be true by the lead script writer. I hope that this film will get national distribution. There is definitely an audience for it.

My wife and I just saw this movie at The Seattle Film Festival. It is outstanding. There are some minor flaws but this movie needs to get into nationwide distribution. The only way that will happen is if people that read IMDb ask for it. Danny Glover should be nominated for an Oscar and the little girl is a real possibility for a supporting actress nomination. This movie tells an important story about how this country has ignored the plight of mentally disturbed Vietnam veterans (get ready in twenty years for the same thing with Iraq veterans). It is too bad that intelligently made movies have trouble getting distributed while some much crapola does. Please contact your local film distributor and ask that they show this film.

I had the privilege of seeing this film at the Seattle International Film Festival on Memorial Day and I couldn't have selected more suitable film for the occasion. In Missing in America, Jake (Danny Glover) is surprised by a fellow ex-Vietnam war vet (David Strathairn) who unexpectedly leaves his half-Vietnamese little girl with Jake to care for. The film follows the emotionally wounded vet as he grows attached to the little girl, played superbly by Zoe Weizenbaun, who will be in the upcoming Memoirs of a Geisha. Danny Glover's Jake is familiar territory for the actor as Jake is an independent survivor who lives alone in a shack in the woods and is more than a little disagreeable. He drives into to town periodically to buy supplies from Kate (Linda Hamilton) with money made from selling chopped wood. Jake doesn't immediately take to the little girl, Lenny, that is left in his care, but as Jake's character warms up to his new housemate, this film could have become a sweet film about a wounded man who is changed forever by the child in his life, but Missing in America doesn't travel down that path. Instead, it used the arrival of a half-Vietnamese child as a catalyst that allows for the exploration into the lives of the mysterious war veterans that live solitary lives in the woods, not able to forget the horrors they experienced in Vietnam. In Lenny's explorations into the woods, she meets their neighbors, some, like Red (Ron Perlman), are still living as if they are in a war zone and see Lenny as a painful reminder of a war that while being 40 years in the past, still impacts their lives on a daily basis. Missing in America is a very amazing first feature for director Gabrielle Savage Dockterman. This was a very courageous and sometimes gut wrenching film that feels like a very authentic snapshot of life 40 years after the Vietnam war for some veterans.