A New Perspective

‘Green Dragon’ brings life to Vietnam refugee experience

By Justin Lowe
Special to AsianWeek

Sunnyvale, Calif., natives Tony Bui and Timothy Linh Bui’s first feature was Three Seasons, a drama directed by Tony and co-produced by Tim that consisted of a trilogy of interlocking narratives set in contemporary Saigon. The film won three awards at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, an unprecedented achievement, and went on to a strong critical reception in its nationwide release.

The brothers switched roles for Green Dragon, with Tim directing and Tony producing a script they co-wrote, based in part on their mother’s personal experience. “This was a story about our family, about the Vietnamese experience,” Tim said. “It forced me to understand the steps the Vietnamese went through to come here.”

The first wave of Vietnamese refugees to arrive in the United States was housed in four temporary camps set up by the military, including Camp Pendelton, Calif., which accommodated more than 50,000 immigrants for six months in 1975. Tim initially developed the Green Dragon script by researching the archives at Camp Pendelton and other refugee centers, in addition to interviewing numerous immigrants and incorporating their anecdotes into the story.

Archival newsreel footage of refugees fleeing Saigon opens the film, as desperate residents crowd onto any available flight out of the city. When 6-year-old Minh Pham (Trung Nguyen) arrives at Camp Pendelton, he’s bewildered and captivated by his new environment, but this curiosity is overshadowed by his determination to locate his mother, who is still nowhere to be found after Minh and his sister, Anh (Jennifer Tran), abandoned Saigon with their uncle, Tai Tran (Don Duong).

Minh’s wanderings through the camp introduce an array of characters and lead him to befriend Addie (Forest Whitaker), a volunteer cook who is also a talented artist. Though unable to communicate in a common language, the two form a fast bond by painting a mural that depicts the horrors of war and features a green dragon as its centerpiece.

Sgt. Jim Lance (Patrick Swayze) runs the Camp Pendelton refugee program with a no-nonsense attitude, a handheld bullhorn and a few words of Vietnamese. When he learns that Tai is bilingual, he recruits the former military translator as the camp manager, and Tai is suddenly saddled with a bewildering variety of refugee problems, including separated families, domestic abuse and political clashes. These conflicts fuel a variety of subplots among the camp residents as they attempt to cope with the fear and promise of resettling in the United States.

In his camp-manager role, Tai meets Thuy Hoa (Hiep Thi Le), the daughter of a former South Vietnamese general who had killed himself following news of Saigon’s fall, leaving Thuy to care for her mother and younger sister. Tai and Thuy’s tentative relationship gradually blossoms, fulfilling the promise of the green dragon, representative of the Vietnamese people’s rebirth in the States.

Shot entirely on location at Camp Pendelton on a $2 million budget, Green Dragon highlights a previously untold chapter in Asian Pacific American history and provides a convincingly human perspective on the Vietnamese refugee experience. Tim Bui avoids the overt violence and political rhetoric that characterize most Vietnam War movies, instead emphasizing the immigrants’ internal cultural conflicts and personal predicaments.

This insightful insiders’ perspective is complicated somewhat by uneven performances from the ensemble cast. Bui wrote the part of Addie specifically for Whitaker, who liked the script so much he agreed to co-produce the film, but the actor appears forced and self-conscious in his role. Swayze projects predictably convincing authority as the gruff yet gentle Sgt. Lance, while Duong, who also appeared in Three Seasons, and Le, herself a former refugee, deliver nicely nuanced performances as the immigrant couple. Eight of the roles were filled from the Northern and Southern California Vietnamese communities, including the part of Minh, featuring San Jose native Trung Nguyen.

Tim Bui’s filmmaking style is accomplished without appearing slick, making economical use of the limited Camp Pendelton locations and employing a shifting color scheme to emphasizes character and mood. Even if he occasionally resorts to sentimentality and coincidental twists to propel the plot, Bui has done a remarkable job of incorporating so many refugees’ personal stories into the film.

Green Dragon’s opening in San Francisco and San Jose this weekend is the latest step in a gradual release strategy that began in Southern California and is expected to take the film to New York City, Denver and other locations with major APA communities. Both the audience reception and box office receipts have been positive, says Bui, “which tells me that the story can cross borders — it’s not just a story for Vietnamese.”

Green Dragon, in English and subtitled Vietnamese, is rated PG-13 and currently playing in Bay Area theaters. For more information, see www.greendragonmovie.com.

Reach Justin Lowe at nextwavve@yahoo.com.