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  • 2 weeks ago
Standup comedian Fred Le hears the stories of a diverse range of young overseas-born Vietnamese who made their way back to the land that their parents left following the end of the Vietnam War. The Empathizer explores identity and the impact of trauma among Việt Kiều who grew up a generation removed from tragic events of the past.
Transcript
00:00We're comics and we're fucking Vietnamese. That is, the language is torture.
00:06Have you been in Vietnam?
00:07He's going back later.
00:08Yeah, there's a lot of people going back over there.
00:10Yeah, I'm going in October to meet with other DBQ people who also moved back.
00:16Nope!
00:16One thing we noticed there is that, you know, it's communist now.
00:20What do you think it was?
00:21I thought it was north and south.
00:23No, that's why we're all here.
00:25Please give him a warm welcome. He hasn't been around these parts for a very long time.
00:30Sometimes I feel kind of funny about the fact that, like, my parents had to literally escape this country.
00:36Like, my mom got crammed into a small boat.
00:39She lived through storms and literally seven pirate attacks.
00:42Only for her daughter to grow up, hop on a plane eating bread rolls and watching The Sopranos for 24
00:48hours and go right back.
00:51Did your mom date Burt Reynolds?
00:53Tom Selleck.
00:54Tom Selleck.
00:55Tom Selleck.
00:55My mom, when she came to the U.S., you know, not wanting us to speak Vietnamese.
01:01That just says a lot as to what she was trying to leave behind.
01:05Did she see some shit?
01:06Yeah.
01:06What's your dad's relationship with the country now?
01:09I remember a quote from him.
01:10I would rather clean the toilets in America than live as a slave in Vietnam.
01:17Whoa.
01:18I grew up thinking that this is, like, a forbidden country.
01:20The anger is very hard to let go of.
01:23Right?
01:23That resentment.
01:24Like, my dad was in prison.
01:25He was a soldier for the South.
01:27So he escaped to Thailand where he met my mother.
01:30He escaped prison?
01:31Like, under gunfire.
01:32He jumped on the back of a scooter.
01:34Like that.
01:34Holy shit.
01:35My parents really wanted to come back.
01:37But it's starting to look like it's not going to happen.
01:41Just because of this, like, hurt.
01:42And that's kind of a big reason why I decided to put together this film.
01:46To just kind of highlight the beauties of this country.
01:49I've struggled personally with trying to convince my own mother.
01:53Can you be doing it for your mom also?
01:55I guess.
01:56I mean, my sister's name is Huai Heung.
01:58Wow.
02:00Wow.
02:00Heung is like the home country, homeland.
02:02That's right.
02:03And Huai is like nostalgia.
02:06Just like missing the homeland.
02:08The homeland.
02:08Why is it so important for you that your mom loves Vietnam?
02:13I mean, in the end, it tells you something about yourself.
02:16The only way out of all of this is for each one of us to find out what our parents
02:23could not forgive.
02:24And forgiving them for not forgiving it.
02:28That's what my therapist told me to do.
02:31What is your move, by the way?
02:33Check.
02:34Oh shit.
02:47However, every seeing and then follow us.
02:48I help my family in collaboration.
02:48Mom speaking, it doesn't bite me.
02:48Why don't you get my side of the sky?
02:48Ready to teach you.
02:49Bye!
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