HAO ARE YOU
Fifty years after their escape from Saigon, film director Dieu Hao Do visits his mother's estranged siblings in Vietnam, Hong Kong, California and Germany. How have the years in exile affected them?
His mother blames communism, his uncle an inheritance dispute, the others remain silent. Film director Dieu Hao Do examines his fragmented family, which has scattered across three continents since the war in Vietnam. After the fall of Saigon in 1975, over 1.5 million people fled the communist regime, forced labour, torture, rape and death. They tried to flee to safety, crossing the South China Sea in small boats; a quarter of a million people drowned, families were torn apart. Many of those who fled the country, like the film-maker's own family, belonged to Vietnam's Chinese minority. Almost 50 years after their escape, contact between the seven family members has all but broken down. How has the trauma of flight affected the survivors and their children physically and mentally? What has life in exile done to them over the years? Is communism to blame for their estrangement? Dieu Hao Do visits members of his family in Vietnam, Hong Kong, California and Germany. A road trip into the history of Vietnam after the withdrawal of the Americans: emotional, sobering, insightful, sad and uplifting.