So I just went to see Tae Guk Gi with Eddie C and Sophia C. Yeah, the story is similar to a lot of other war movies, but this one really hit me in a way Saving Private Ryan never did. Maybe because civil wars are just that much more heart-wrenching — all those stories about neighbors and loved ones turning on each other; not only on the battlefield, but in the streets of occupied towns. And maybe because of all the similarities I see with stories my parents have told me about the Vietnam War.
Like the ice cream scene at the beginning of the movie reminded me of a story of two orphan brothers in occupied Saigon. As they walked along the street begging for change, a bureaucrat in a passing car (air-conditioned, of course) tosses a half-eaten ice cream out his window. They have never had ice cream before, so the older brother runs up the block to pick it up, but the sidewalk is so hot that by the time he gets there, the ice cream basically melts apart in his hands. So he tells the younger brother, “I’ll let you lick my fingers and see what it’s like.”
While my family was living in Texas, my dad’s old schoolteacher (they had found each other after they came to America separately) volunteered at a local Viet radio station and read stories like that on air. On her first day, she broke down in the middle of the story and cried. After she collected herself, she apologized to the listeners and the host of the show. He replied, “No, I should apologize for not crying at such a touching story.”
In that regard, I have nothing to be sorry about.
America, Eddie C, Family, Movies, Sophia Chang, Stories, Viet
It is touching. It is sad that I know more about vietnamese history and japanese history than I do Chinese. I don’t have very much pride in my country. Although, I do admit that it was great in it’s own rite. BLA BLA BLA. Chicken chow mein.