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Dust Of Life

1994, Movie, NR, 87 mins

Dust Of Life: Review

DUST OF LIFE | POUSSIERES DE VIE
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It comes as no surprise that Algerian director Rachid Bouchareb's film -- based on the memoirs of Duyen Ahn, a survivor of the "reeducation" process to which Amerasian Vietnamese children were subjected -- is both harrowing and heartfelt. What is surprising is the mid-film shift from brutal realism to a conventional adventure formula: Imagine Huckleberry Finn meets PAPILLON and weep. "Dust of life" is a derogatory term used by the Vietnamese to refer to the some 40,000 children of American GIs and Vietnamese women who were left behind after the 1975 fall of Saigon. Thirteen-year-old Son (Daniel Guyant), like many other Amerasians abandoned by their fathers, is plucked off the streets of Ho Chi Minh City and sent to a camp deep in the jungles of Vietnam. There, a brutal "work will set you free" policy, combined with wretched conditions, physical abuse and the constant threat of a one-way trip to the tiger cage, leads Son and three of his friends to risk a daring escape via the nearby river. The wide-screen cinematography is gorgeous, and though the film's abrupt ending is confusing and unsatisfying (though true to the events of Duyen's life), it's filled with chilling details: Upended bottles containing the names of the murdered children buried in the earth below are messages in bottles no one will ever receive, and Son's photograph of his American father serves as an uncomfortable reminder of exactly who must share in the blame. leave a comment --Ken Fox
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