Response Questions for The Beautiful Country and selected Perfume Dreams essays.
Directions: Choose THREE of the questions below and type up your answers (not the
questions). Please use complete sentences, include details from the readings and the film, and use
your best grammar in MLA format. (No need for formal citing, though, unless you’re including
outside sources, which isn’t required or recommended). Aim for at least one well-developed
paragraph (150-200 words each) for each question.
1. Andrew Lam says that Vietnamese stories train children to “accept that noble deeds are
rarely rewarded with happily-ever-afters, that broken love is the norm, and that those who
do good can be and often are punished. These stories concerned with their young
listeners’ spiritual growth, not with convincing them that they live in a benevolent
universe. Considering how the country has been war-ridden for thousands of years and
how disasters have a way of destroying hope, Vietnamese tales have evolved to prepare
the next generation for cataclysm and grief.” But when his mother’s California raised
grandchildren hear these tales, “they naturally resist her tragic endings.” (10)
How does this observation relate to the film The Beautiful Country? Which world
view does the film seem to present—the tragic Vietnamese one? The optimistic American
one? Or is it ambiguous on the question of whether we live in a benevolent, malevolent,
or neutral universe? Be specific and use examples from the film. You can also refer to
other parts of Lam’s essay.
2. In what ways are Andrew Lam and Binh’s experiences similar? In what ways are they
different? Consider also how their personalities (not just their circumstances) influenced
their responses to the idea of the American Dream.
3. In “Lost Photos,” Lam meditates on the interplay of photographs, memories, and stories
he tells of his family’s past. How do his insights from this essay relate to the photograph
of Binh’s family that appears repeatedly in the film?
Note: The actor who depicts Binh says this of his own perilous sea journey with his
refugee Vietnamese parents when he was 3 years old: “If anything, I had flashes and
pictures in my head of the passage but I don’t know if they were real. One thing I can
think of is walking inside this boat and having this smell of gasoline or crude oil that was
just so nauseating. Walking around, people were making little makeshift campfires to
cook with. People laying around nauseated and sick and in damp spirits — I don’t know
if these are actual events or just something my mind fabricated to fill in the holes.”
4. In “Letter to a Young Refugee,” Lam offers advice that might have been useful to Binh.
Considering what we see of Binh’s experiences as a refugee, discuss how he seemed to
either arrive at some of Lam’s wisdom on his own, or fail to have that wisdom in time to
spare himself further suffering.
5. The screenwriter, Sabine Murray, was coached in this project by master filmmaker
Terrence Malik, who has made, among many other great films, The New World, in which
he uses voiceover very effectively to convey the thoughts and feelings of Captain John
Smith and the young Pocahontas. Nevertheless, he told Ms. Murray to avoid using
voiceover: “Show, don’t tell,” he said. If she had decided to use voiceover narration,
what moment (or moments) would you have liked to hear illuminated this way? What do
you think they could have added to the film? [Note: If you think the lack of voiceover
was a good choice, don’t choose this question unless you can say why at some length.]
6. The recognition scene between father and son is one of the greatest climaxes of the story,
as pivotal, in its way, as the recognition scene in The Odyssey between Odysseus and
Telemachus. Why do you think it is so elliptical—a slowly dawning realization for Steve,
rather than a dramatic declaration from Binh? Do you think it was a good decision,
artistically? What does it say about Binh’s character that he delayed giving Steve the
information he needed to recognize his son?