Daughter from Danang

The "good bad film" "Daughter from Danang" delivers a captivating and poignant glimpse into one of the many cruel realities of the Vietnam War, the flight of thousands of young South Vietnamese children to the US out of fear that the racially mixed ones would be tortured by the invading Viet Cong. The focus of the film is a Vietnamese-American daughter, Heidi, whose Vietnamese name is "Hiep" and her Vietnamese mother. The sounds in the first scene of the film, a high-pitched singing/wailing, established the mood of sadness conveyed throughout the film and was reminiscent of the singing/wailing heard in the "Titanic", and also renders the film a historic mood. This mood of sadness stems from what Hiep's, or Heidi's mother felt at giving up her daughter. One scene of the film shows a US adoption worker talking to a Vietnamese mother standing with her two children and point-blank, the worker asks the mother if she can take her children away from her. At that moment, I felt immediately sick at the total loss of humanity in her voice. To ask someone if you can take away their children, especially while their children are standing right there, is simply senseless and plainly wrong. The several interviews with Heidi's family and friends throughout the film gave it a documentary feel and established an emotional connection between the characters and spectators. The emotional connection of the story was also conveyed through Heidi's mother's tears and the torsion of her face. The low pitch of her tears reflected the gravity of the story. She also tightened the emotional connection with the spectator when she says while describing the pain she felt at giving up her daughter by saying "The pain at losing my daughter" and "It was like I was losing a part of myself." Though I have never been a mother nor lost a daughter, I emotionally connected to that and believe that every spectator could have as well because at one time or another, everyone has probably felt like he or she has lost a part of themselves. The mood of the film remained static as Heidi's mother talked about her daughter, she described the immense love she had for her and even said "I lay in bed and dreamed I was talking to her." The intense pain and immense love heard in Heidi's mother's voice only intensified the disgust I felt for the adoption worker in the beginning of the film. Later in Heidi's interviews, she reveals that her adoptive mother wasn't a child batterer, but would be angry with her and even lock her out of her home for not staying with her. The lack of affection Heidi endured all her life would soon be replaced as the film reached its climax of Heidi's boarding the plane for Vietnam to meet her mother. The mood through Heidi's eyes definitely changed, however, as several days into her trip in Vietnam, her perspective of her life had changed as she described her relationship with her mother "Now I was the parent and she was the child." and how she would feel smothered at how affectionate her mother would be. I was very surprised at the shift from feeling lack of affection to feeling smothered. What surprised me the most, however, was when her family and she had a conversation and her brother asked her for money to help her family. She just burst into tears because she didn't know what to do and that was simply the Vietnamese culture to be upfront about things like money. I felt bad for Heidi as I saw her struggle with this ethical decision, for I myself would probably not know what to do. Again, this scene shows a true emotional connection between character and spectator. The denouement of the film surprised me as well to see that she no longer corresponded with her mother after her visit but I can understand how she would feel insulted that they would so forwardly ask her for money in the end. I think that Heidi's mother's feelings remained static throughout the film, but Heidi's perspective changed so dramatically. Heidi said she wanted to return to the life she knew, but I feel like the life she wanted was with her mom.