Movie - Daughter from Danang Literature & Language Essay

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Movie - Daughter from Danang
‘Daughter from Danang’ is a documentary released in 2002 directed by Gail Dolgin and Vicente Franco. It revolves around a mother, Mai Thi Kim, and her daughter Mai Thi Hiep a.k.a Heidi. The documentary is set at a time where the two are to reunite after twenty years apart back home in Vietnam. The theme of the documentary involves culture and beliefs, coupled with the impact it has on family ties.
Towards the end of the war in Vietnam, a program referred to as ‘operation babylift’ was initiated in the country. The program aimed to ensure that innocent children with Amerasian backgrounds that were directly threatened by the war could have a future abroad. Mai Thi Kim thus sent Heidi to the United States under the program to start life afresh with high hopes. Consequently, Heidi grew up in the United States with her adoptive mother up to her twenties and later started her own family with a navy officer. However, a rift with her foster mother ended their relationship abruptly, forcing Heidi to start looking for her Vietnamese mother (Dolgin and Franco). Through a contact previously in ‘operation babylift,’ Heidi is able to trace her mother and plan for a reunion back home in Danang.
While the reunion aimed to provide an opportunity to catch up with lost time, both mother and daughter become overjoyed with emotions after meeting for the first time in twenty-two years. Heidi gets the chance to tour her hometown, meet her extended family, and learn more about her culture. She gets to visit the ancient shrines of her ancestors and learn more about the place she was born. However, with time, Heidi begins to develop a feeling of contempt towards the culture and Vietnam in general. Seeing her family living in abject poverty in addition to the increasing invasion of her private space, Heidi becomes overwhelmed by the conditions in Danang. She also learns that her half brother was head of the family tasked with taking care of their mother, and due to her return, this task lay firmly on her head now. Additionally, her mother requests to move to America with Heidi in order to spend the rest of their lives together. Given such ultimatums, Heidi becomes overcome with emotions and mixed f...