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Binh, about to be evicted, decides to visit Saigon to find his birth mother, Mai (Thi Kim Xuan Chau). Because it's a movie, this takes about three scenes. Binh also learns he has a post-toddler half-brother, Tam (Dang Quoc Thinh Tran). Binh works with his good-hearted mother as abused servants in the house of wealthy but shrewish Mrs. Hoa (Thu Anh), whose grown son is equally despicable. Things go badly, and Binh is forced to flee the country with Tam on a boat crowded with fellow illegal emigrants.
He ends up in Malaysia in a refugee camp. There, he meets Ling (Ling Bai), a Chinese hottie who prostitutes the guards. Soon, she earns enough money for Ling, Binh, and Tam to bribe their way out of the camp and into (essentially) a slave ship bound for America. Tim Roth is the captain, a cold-blooded man who regards his Asian refugee passengers as so much cargo. A shortage of food and water onboard causes great suffering, intensified by the evil actions of a Vietnamese gang that controls supplies.
Once in America, Binh exits indentured servitude with surprising ease. He heads for Texas, where his prodigal father was last known to live. When Binh finally finds dear old dad (Nick Nolte), he turns out to be an unexpectedly pitiable man whose abandonment of his family takes on a completely new light.
How others will see it. Most viewers will empathisize with Binh, even though they may notice exaggerations in the characters and story designed to maximize sympathy for our protagonist. Most will believe that the journey was worth the destination, a conclusion likely shared by Binh himself.
How I felt about it. I admire the cinematography, and the technical skill of the director. However, as alluded to in the above paragraph, the characters and story are suspect. Binh himself is more or less the nicest and most sensitive man you'll ever meet onscreen, despite the fact that everyone in or from Vietnam treats him with contempt because of his father's nationality. Nonetheless, Binh is anxious to meet his father, and has absolutely no hostility toward him.
So, Binh's character is too earnest to believe, as is the malice continually shown to him by the Vietnamese. (The film's antagonists are invariably Vietnamese. Most suspect of all is Mrs. Hoa, whose decadence and wealth are improbable in a poor communist nation such as Vietnam.) Ling's presence in the story is intended to provide eye candy and romance, though we wonder why she cares so much for the unpopular and uncharismatic Binh. Binh's mother and father both turn out to be much nicer and more helpful than could be expected.
The Beautiful Country has its problems. But the ending twist is satisfying, the characters are interesting, and the film is well photographed. The losses Binh experiences throughout his journey (his mother, half-brother, and Ling) are poignant. Now if I only knew where Binh and Ling first learned English.