GREEN DRAGON

US, 2002, 112 minutes, Colour.
Don Duong, Patrick Swayze, Forest Whitaker, Trung Nguyen.
Directed by Timothy Linh Bui.

Tony Bui directed a poignant film about Vietnam called Three Seasons, which won three prizes at the Sundance Film Festival in 1999, including the Audience and Grand Jury awards. Here he joins his brother, Timothy Linh Bui, to co-write Green Dragon about the experiences of the refugees who fled Vietnam as Saigon fell. This film, about the refugee experience both before and after the April 29-30 fall of Saigon, won a Humanitas Award.

Acclaimed Vietnamese actor Don Duong brings a sympa¬thetic gravity to the role of Tai, who is a good and wise man. Patrick Swayze is the commander who tries to learn, even from his mistakes. Forest Whitaker, whose production company released the film, plays Addie, the cook.

The movie was made more than twenty-five years after the events they portray and by a first-generation Vietnamese who grew up in the United States. Green Dragon is both a memoir and a search for understanding about how the refu¬gees responded in the dark times of 1975. The Buis have chosen to make their central characters both Catholic and Buddhist, offering a religious dimension to the realities of joy, suffering, and death.

1. The work of Tony and Timothy Bui, their Vietnamese heritage, American heritage? Their perspective at the beginning of the 21st century?

2. Camp Pendleton, the huts, the layout, the halls? California? The immigrants and their remaining in the camp - dreaming of an America beyond? The score?

3. The title, Vietnam? Vietnam not being seen, only described? Longed for, remembered?

4. The setting of April 1975, the last days before the fall of Saigon? The radio news on Saigon and its fall - and the reaction of all those in the camp? Their experience of war, divided families, deaths of relatives, the difficulties of their escape? The experience of fighting, different sides and perspectives? Their being lost in America?

5. The United States as a haven, a refuge? Also a mystery? The statistics given about the number of migrants from Vietnam at this time? The consequences for them, for Vietnam itself, for the United States, its population and the absorption of the Vietnamese into American society?

6. The picture of Camp Pendleton, Jim Lance, his authority, command? The staff? The scenes of the arrivals, the allotment of places, the dormitories, conditions, dining room? The huts? Sleeping arrangements? The activities in the camp, the cinema? Eventually the people leaving - and Tai venturing out to discover America?

7. Minh, his age? Anh, her age? The bonds together, the continued searching for their mother, the notice boards, wandering the camp, the photos? Tai and his promises to his niece and nephew? Minh and his life in the camp, not having the language, meeting Addie, the comics, Mighty Mouse, the drawings? Their beginning to communicate? Minh painting the mural with Addie, sharing perspectives, learning some English? The sudden shock of Addie's death? The pictures that Addie left Minh? The obliteration of the mural? Minh and Tai's advice, the reality of his mother's disappearance, his continuing to search? The place of children in the camp?

8. Tai, his background, skills in language, relating to Minh and Anh, the memory of his sister? His relations in Vietnam, their deaths? His working with people in the camp, his jobs, discussions with Jim Lance, his teaching Lance about Vietnamese? The girl, her pregnancy, the clash with Lance? His attraction to the general's daughter? The practical life of the camp, the difficulties, his angers, nightmares? Lance taking him to see the American town, his returning to tell the others? The marriage ceremony, his Catholic background, the crucifix? Faith, hope, his brother's arrival, the news about their sister's death? His helping the children to cope?

9. Duc, happy, wheeler-dealing and scrounging? His background, love for the businessman's second wife in Vietnam, wanting to rekindle the love, her feeling trapped in her past? His dreams about America, business, enterprise? His leaving the camp, the symbol of the successful Vietnamese in America?

10. The second wife, her love for Duc, in America with the businessman, the clashes with the first wife, the pregnancy? Jealousies, going out to see the businessman at night? Her future, being accepted to look after the child?

11. The young girl, the child, making a difficulty in the dining area? Her story, her sister, the general? The general and his suicide? Her attraction towards Tai, their marriage?

12. The businessman, his attitudes, treatment of his wives, going out at night for the younger wife, the pregnancy of the older wife?

13. The general, humiliated in the camp, the memories of his past, his daughters? The fall of Saigon, his death? The veterans in the camp feeling that he had betrayed them?

14. The character of Jim Lance, in command, just man, trying to administer, learn the language, respect the people? The bond with Tai, talking, offering him a future?

15. Addie, the cook, sketches, the friendship with Minh, their painting the mural? Communicating by word, images? The suddenness of his death? The obliterating of his mural?

16. The religious background, the variety of religions in Vietnam, traditional Buddhism, Catholicism?

17. The impact of the film for an American audience? Memories of the involvement in the Vietnam War, its consequences?