Beautiful Country

Colour, 35 mm
Norway, USA, 2004, 120 min
Section: Horizons

Synopsis

Twenty-year-old Binh lives with his grandmother and aunt in a small Vietnamese village. But, his aunt is about to get married and there is no room in the little house, so he decides to go to the city to find his mother whom he does not remember. He knows he is the son of an American soldier, and that his mother was forced to bear the consequences of being linked by marriage with "the enemy". Not even his mother, slaving as a hotel maid, can help her son in his search for a home. He decides to set out for America to find his lost father. Binh defies the harsh conditions on the refugee ship, survives a humiliating stay in a collection camp for Asian immigrants, and even a murderous voyage on an American tanker, which costs many refugees their money and their lives. The humiliating process continues in the land of freedom. Binh, however, discovers that as the son of an American father he has a homeland and rights…

About the director

Hans Petter Moland (b. 1955, Oslo) lived for a long time in the USA, where he graduated in film and theatre direction from Emerson College. He began as a director of commercials (chiefly for Giraldi Productions), through which he gained fame and a number of awards at international film festivals, including Cannes. After returning to his native Norway, he established himself as a director and producer (he founded the largest Scandinavian advertising company, Moland Film). He made his directing debut in 1993 with the drama The Last Lieutenant (Secondloitnanten). His second film Zero Kelvin (Kjarlighetens kjoterne, 1995) won Norway´s national Amanda Award and the Grand Jury Prize at the IFF in San Sebastian. It was shown at Karlovy Vary, as was his next film, a drama about an alcoholic, Aberdeen (1999), with Stellan Skarsgard in the leading role.