Journey from the Fall

While the Vietnamese who had relocated to Southern California were in an English class, the blackboard read, "Wednesday June 21 1981.

" June 21, 1981 was a Sunday.

An officer gives a quote from Emil Cioran to a prisoner while apparently justifying his own actions.

It introduces Cioran as a French philosopher when in fact he was a Romanian, though he lived in France and published part of his work in French.

After South Vietnam fell to the Communists in 1975, many of those who were seen as having "collaborated" with the Americans during the war were sent to "re-education camps," where they were brutalized and tortured until such time as they were deemed fit to return to society fully on-board with the repressive regime's mantra of collectivist solidarity. Others, more "fortunate" perhaps, were able to escape the coming onslaught, becoming known internationally as "boat people" - though many of these refugees never made it to their destinations.

The events in a family's life following the fall of Saigon, as told (refreshingly) by a Vietnamese filmmaker, Ham Tran. Using the myth of Kim Quy (Golden Turtle God) and Le Loi (a historical hero) as a backdrop to the tale was intelligent and inspiring, as it put the horrifying struggles of these people into a longer view of perseverance as well as underscored their sacrifice to provide a better life for their children.

I ran across this film while previewing soundtracks for my online radio program. I knew almost immediately that this would be a winner, if not just by Christopher Wong's score, then by the outline of the film I read on this website.

A moving portrait, in two acts, of a family torn apart by war. Journey from the Fall tells the story of a family forced apart by the circumstances of the Vietnam War.

One of my closest friends is from Vietnam. at age 13, he was put on a boat by his parents and, after an odyssey of 3 months, ended up in Germany where he still lives today.

This amazingly poignant film is very much overdue. For over thirty years the film industry has put out the same films of the Vietnam War.

I want to thank Mr. Ham Tran and his team for making this true and tearful film.

I viewed this masterpiece on its premiere. To my surprise, EVERYBODY in the theater broke down because the movie is unmistakably powerful.

Filmmakers are always trying to find ways to innovate, trying to find a new story or way of telling their story that hasn't been done. The great majority fail in this quest, but there are a select few that do manage to change things, or to open a new door.