Journey From the Fall: A South Vietnamese family story

Reviewer: James van Maanen
Rating (out of 5): ***½

If you're into movies that really deal with the importance of family--and not in a feel-good, Disney-fied way--give Journey From the Fall a try. I would particularly recommend it to those, like most of us, who felt the Vietnam War was a waste and a mistake, and those who followed the history, who knew that honest elections ought to have been held in that country when they were first promised, no matter that Ho Chi Minh would have easily won. All this may have been true, but it will not prepare you for the degradations experienced by those South Vietnamese left behind to endure "re-education" by the North. The family that is sundered here--dad left behind in a re-education camp, while mom, son and grandma try their escape via boat--is shown with great dignity.

No matter what one's politics, it will be difficult not to sympathize enormously with these people, who are first betrayed by America's leaving Vietnam then later welcomed here as immigrants. Ham Tran's film flips back and forth in time but is easy enough to follow as it slowly fills in the gaps until the story is complete. Roughly two-thirds of Journey From the Fall takes place in Vietnam and shows us, in loving detail--both moving and frightening--the experiences of this family, who clings to its history, its country's mythology and its love for each other to help it survive.

Once part of the family arrives in America, the movie loses some of its power, perhaps because the locale is no longer so exotic and beautiful and the family's concerns seemingly grow more mundane. Yet, even here, the film puts us in touch with the immigrant experience in America, and allows us to understand and embrace its many difficulties and occasional joys. While the movie will be a "must" for all Vietnamese, it is Americans who might profit most from the experience of seeing yet another country and people (yesterday Vietnam, today Iraq) whom we first help destroy and then try to embrace with our typical and hypocritical "We Know Best/We Are Best" philosophy.

Journey From the Fall is not exactly evenhanded in its description of the abuses of power. It comes down full-strength against the North Vietnamese Communist regime--which may be unfair in the grand scheme of things but is certainly appropriate when seen thru the eyes of this particular family. Power has, at this point, moved from America, and its puppet South Vietnam, into the hands of the North who uses it in every bit as corrupt, brutal and demeaning a fashion. Fortunately, at the heart of this fine film--what will likely remain with viewers--is how vast and nearly unfathomable family love and sacrifice can be.