Boat people, passeport pour l'enfer

BOAT PEOPLE is a hard-hitting slice of social commentary from director Ann Hui, telling the plight of the Vietnamese people following the North's win in the Vietnam War. She based her film on stories told to her by refugees and filmed this movie on Hainan Island which adds to the authenticity of the picture. This fits well into that early '80s grittiness you see in the likes of THE KILLING FIELDS. George Lam, playing a Japanese photographer, is the nominal protagonist but the film is much more interesting when depicting local lives; in particular, Season Ma really shines as the innocent girl and Andy Lau wows in a star-making turn.

Like most Americans of draft age when the Vietnam War was raging, I promptly forgot about the hellish place once we were defeated there and I was no longer subject to getting my ass shot off for the likes of Diem. So this powerful film was a timely reminder for me, and I suspect others, that the country's sufferings did not exactly lessen under Communist rule. And while I have no doubt that there is more than a soupcon of anti Comm propaganda at work here this movie is a much needed antidote to the Jane Fonda fueled Ho Chi Minh worship so prevalent, to this day, among certain of my lefty friends. In short, the guy was a monster and so was his authoritarian and brutal government, and director Ann Hui allows you to miss none of it in this harrowing, bleak tale, albeit with a glimmer of hope at the end. I especially like how Hui effectively integrates the Japanese photo journalist into her story rather than, as in say "The Killing Fields", keeping the Saintly Newsperson above and beyond the horror while letting the lowly peasants bare the full brunt of the atrocities. I also like how how this director seems to have an innate sense of when to speed things up and when to slow them down as in the contemplative scenes involving the old revolutionary and his young/old mistress, scenes that seem to reach back beyond even the 1960s to the time of Graham Greene. So, to sum up, a most impressive work, and I hope to see more of this fine director's work. Give it an A minus.

I first watched Boat People when I was in high school about two decades ago. Today I watched it again with a heavy heart and totally new understanding. Although this movie is talking about the story of Vietnam, Chinese who know history can see it's also a story of China. And for Chinese, unfortunately, the history recur under the reign of the pretty soon emperor-to-be.......

Boat People is a film that looks at the horrors that existed in Communist-controlled Vietnam after the war ended. I appreciate that they told the story through the eyes of a photojournalist from Japan so he starts off a bit naive. That allows us to gradually discover the truth with him. I also thought it was great that they utilized some young children to teach him, because that just enhances the horror of the things going on. They also did a nice job of showing how the government was trying to cover up the ugly truth. All that being said, while Boat People is effective film-making, it's hard to watch. I don't handle this kind of story all that well. I've seen my fair share of war movies (or post-war movies) and there's only so much you can take without a new or different perspective thrown in to make it more engaging. I was never bored by Boat People, but I'll pass on ever watching it again.

Watching this now and although it is quite interesting, rather much has changed. Although we hoped that this would have been made in Vietnam but it is not at all and I'm sure the communist country must not have been so happy. Made by Hong Kong and on location in the Chinese island of Hainan which is rather well done but of course we really wanted to see Vietnam. Also we thought that we would see the 'boat people' but not really at all. In Chinese the title is literally, Run Towards the Angry Sea, which would have been much better although we do finally get to a boat. I know so little about Vietnam so it was pretty good for anything about this but it was so sad and violent. All the cast, including the Vietnamese and the rather naive Japanese cameraman were all Cantonese speaking people.