Synopsis
After reuniting with his mother in Ho Chi Minh City, a family tragedy causes Binh to flee from Viet Nam to America. Landing in New York, Binh begins a road trip to Texas, where his American father is said to live.
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Cast
- Nick NolteSteve
- Tim RothCaptain Oh
- Bai LingLing
- Temuera MorrisonSnakehead
- Chapman ToChingmy
- Damien NguyenBinh
- John HusseyJerry
- Kirk GriffithRanch owner
- Arthur J. NascarellaGriff
- 80
The Hollywood Reporter
The film achieves its power through a careful gathering of crucial details, in wordless glances, cruelties of nature and of man and the relentless determination to gain the promised land. - 80
Los Angeles Times
It is a straightforward, conventional narrative, charting seemingly endless cruelty and hardship, but rewards the patient with an eloquent climactic sequence that is impossible to predict. - 80
TV Guide Magazine
Versatile, highly skilled Norwegian director Hans Petter Moland's poignant drama examines the lingering effects of U.S. intervention in Southeast Asia. - 75
Entertainment Weekly
Inside the Norwegian director's glove of empathy is a fist of unappeasable anger. - 75
USA Today
The Beautiful Country might be too slow-moving for some, but it has powerful performances and a multi-layered quality. It is an epic journey worth taking. - 75
New York Post
The movie grows steadily more arresting as it goes on and saves its best parts for last. - 70
Variety
Standout performance is by Nolte who, in the final 20 minutes, draws on a deep reservoir of playing broken romantic heroes to portray Binh's father. The subtle, resonant scenes between the two men are worth the price of admission. - 70
The New York Times
It is hard not to admire the independence and ambition of The Beautiful Country, even if the film does fall short of its epic intentions.