 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Product Detail |
 |
|
Audio Format: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, Dolby Digital Stereo Video Format: Widescreen 1.85:1 Languages: English, Spanish Subtitles: English Region Code: 1 Year Made: 2001 Running Time: 113
 There are many movies about the Vietnam War and its lasing effects on the populace, but few take the viewpoint seen in Green Dragon. This film takes place in 1975 at Camp Pendleton, a Vietnamese refuge camp near San Diego, a sort of limbo to many Vietnamese immigrants. They are escaping Communism in Vietnam by coming to America, but need sponsorship before leaving the camp. This is a personal story for writer/director Timothy Linh Bui and co-writer Tony Bui (Three Seasons, Yellow Lotus), who infuse it with a sense of delicacy and grace. It may be plain what they are trying to say and where this story is going, but the Buis still manage to add emotion to a fairly standard story.
At the heart of Green Dragon are two relationships. The first is between Sgt. Jim Lance (Patrick Swayze, Donnie Darko, Get Bruce!) and Tai Tran (Don Duong, We Were Soldiers, L'Immeuble). Lance is in charge of the camp, and hires Tran to be camp manager, because he can speak some English. Tran's nephew Minh (Trung Nguyen, Fated Vacation) and Addie (Forest Whitaker, Panic Room, Battlefield Earth) form the second one. Minh's mother did not arrive with him, his sister, and Tran. Every day, Minh wanders the camp looking for his mother. He does not interact with the other children, and Addie, one of the cooks, notices this. Addie likes to draw, and shows Minh his pictures. He wants to coax Minh out of his shell, so he has Minh help him with a mural he is painting inside one of the buildings.
The situation between Lance and Tran is more complicated. Tran feels a deep sense of guilt because he is in America and Minh's mother is not. He also feels a sense of responsibility for the people in the camp, like Lance does. Lance feels he is doing the correct thing, but the two differ on the timing. Lance, the epitome of military efficiency, wants to move the people out as soon as possible, one relevant reason being that many more are coming in. Tran feels that people need more time to adjust to America before leaving the camp. This hesitation is also present in Tran. He wants to move forward in life, but his overwhelming sense of guilt over his sister (Minh's mother) is preventing him. He asks Lance to move his file to the bottom of the pile, effectively prolonging his stay at the camp.
Bui is able to broaden the scope by telling the stories of others through the people Tran meets. He wants to present a human face on a largely indistinct population. These people have hopes and dreams, as well as diametrically differing viewpoints. By telling simple stories of people reaching out for each other, Bui easily conveys what these people were going through. The stories essentially boil down to people wanting friends, and things don't get simpler than that. Bui and the actors also use restraint. Swayze, Whitaker, and Duong all act in an understated manner, letting their actions speak for themselves. Green Dragon is at times a subtle movie that sneaks up on the audience. The emotional level of the movie is consistent until the end, when things are surprisingly moving.
 
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
::: GENESIS :::
The seed for Green Dragon was implanted within Timothy Linh Bui while he was still attending film school. He wanted to make a film about the Vietnamese-American experience, always remembering his mother telling stories of hardship and how the moonlight brought her immense sorrow when she first arrive in America.
Timothy and Tony Bui began writing the script for ??Green Dragon?? after completing their first feature film ??Three Seasons??.
::: CASTING :::
Casting for the film proved to be a difficult task, the first challenge was to see if there was a large enough pool of Vietnamese speaking actors, and second was finding a Casting Director who was sensitive to a different culture.They found such a person in Rene Haynes. The casting process began with auditions with about 100 Vietnamese SAG actors, an amount that far exceeded their expectations.
Open casting calls were then set up in Orange County where in one day they saw over a thousand hopeful thespians; men, women, and children from 3 years old to 80 years old.
A week later they did the same open call in San Jose, Ca. where 800 people showed up.
Both the little Boy and Girl were discovered at the casting call in San Jose.
Overall eight characters, both supporting and leads, were decided upon from the open calls.
The community came together in support of something that is as much for them as for the filmmakers. Many were excited to just be extras n the film.
From the beginning without ever meeting the actor, Timothy wrote the role of Addie specifically for Forest Whitaker. He remembered when his agent had asked him to write down a list of ten actors he would like to have play Addie. From numbers 1-9, Timothy wrote Forest Whitaker and for the tenth slot, he wrote in Gary Coleman.
Patrick Swayze wasn??t the first choice for Lance. Timothy??s concern was having a big Hollywood actor in a small movie and that Patrick??s presence might overshadow the project. But upon meeting with the actor, Timothy fell in love with Patrick??s compassion and understanding of the material. Upon leaving that meeting, Timothy knew that Patrick was the right man to play Lance.
Careful in his step, he walks over the bodies, one by one, unsure of the moment, confused by its time and place.
The sunlight from an open door draws him nearer, both blinding and illuminating, revealing something both familiar and unfamiliar: the American Flag.
In 1975, refugee camps were set up across the deserts of the United States to house an exodus of over 100,000 Vietnamese immigrants before and immediately after the fall of Saigon. They were considered the first wave, and would represent the beginning of a new generation of Americans.
The child, Minh Pham (Trung Nguyen), opens our eyes to this new struggle, where, like the flag, America is both familiar and unfamiliar.Through his daily search for his mother in the vast Camp Pendleton Marine Base, California, we are introduced to a kaleidoscope of characters, and through their eyes we witness the spirit of imagination, ambition, hope and rebirth; as well as tragedy of torn families, false expectation and lost identity.
Along the way, Minh meets Addie (Forest Whitaker), an American who volunteers as a cook at the camp. He immediately takes a liking to Minh as they share a common interest in drawings and Batman comic books.Without verbally understanding each other, they have an unusual bond through drawings and music, and the common loss of a mother. They paint a mural together, bridging culture and history, where another America is revealed, outside of the Sears-Roebuck catalogs and shopping malls, and a spirit of innocence is formed, beyond life and death.
Tai Tran (Don Duong), Minh's uncle and a former translator for the U.S. Army, is asked by Sergeant Jim Lance (Patrick Swayze), to be a camp manager.The war has ended, yet each has an internal battle in need of peace. Lance's brother died in the war and left behind a letter describing the only woman he ever loved, a Vietnamese nurse who cared for him when he was wounded. Lance's journey of understanding, through both the letter and the woman, help de-flame a hidden guilt that has plagued him for years. Tai also is at war with his own personal guilt and with Lance's help, finds the strength to look forward without forgetting the past.
Uncommon stories merge to create a fabric of common struggles, desires and fears;and like the wavering flag, and America herself, GREEN DRAGON is both familiar and unfamiliar, and removes our blinds to illuminate.
 
 
 
 
 
Features:
Audio Commentary with Director and Cinematographer
Theatrical Trailer
Photo Gallery
Behind the Scenes Documentary
Interactive Menus
Deleted Scenes with Optioanl Director Commentary
Scene Selections
Bonus Trailers
Filmographies
"Light and Life in Greed Dragon" Article
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Be the first to write a review. |
|
| No customer review found. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
