Critic's Choice
This Oscar-nominated American Experience documentary was supposed to be heartwarming but turned out painfully honest.
It's the story of a Vietnamese woman named Kim and the child she had by a U.S. soldier who later faded from her life. As the war was ending in 1975, Kim sadly relinquished 7-year-old Hiep for adoption and a better future in America. In 1997 that daughter from Danang—now Heidi Bub, a Tennessee wife and mother—went back to Vietnam for a reunion that held the promise of unconditional love. But the filmmakers wound up recording a visit filled with misunderstanding and regret. Daughter is hurt by the absence of Heidi's estranged adoptive mother, who declined to be interviewed, but it's still extraordinary.
BOTTOM LINE: Deeply human
