Watch Green Dragon For Free

Really Surprised!

How sad is this?

Good movie but grossly overrated

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

A must see film in my opinion. The Asian people have definitely suffered much as it shows in this film and many other films and documentaries. The Asian people do endure though as the Second Wife says in this film(which she's absolutely stunning to look at by the way). Patrick Swazye holds his own with some good acting and to prove even more that he was a very good actor, and very much an icon with his magnificent presence.The three that really steal the movie though are Duong Don who plays the Uncle and then Forest Whitaker as the Cook and Trung Nguyen as little Minh. Whitaker and Minh steal the movie with every scene they are in together, and a pre-showcase at showing what a fantastic actor Forest Whitaker is as he's being recognized for his acting now. Lot's of different story lines going on, and all very true to the people, circumstance, culture and time. See this film for it's everything that it is.

The Green Dragon is not particularly a story of the Vietnam war but of the refugees of every war: Their fear for themselves, their missing family members and friends, and their fear of the unknown culture they are being thrust into. Their hopes and their dreams, also. The story itself is about the easy interaction between the little boy who is looking for his lost mother and the black American cook, and the uneasy interaction between the adults of both nations. The Vietnamese characters are very real in their humanity - good, bad, young, old. The film introduces certain aspects of Vietnamese culture (polygamy - filial devotion) that few Americans are acquainted with. It should be noted that the main Vietnamese actor, Don Duong, upon his return to Vietnam was put under house arrest for 6 months for "embarrassing the Vietnamese people".

This movie seems to be experiences of various Vietnamese people during the stay in the refugee camp. It has been sentimentalized, casting it as some sort of good old memories. Plus it seems most of the people who made it out are the ones, by whatever circumstances, either having power, connection, money or being in the armed forces. So we get a view biased toward the well to do who favored what we did for them.The many little stories intertwined together gives an overall concern that most of the Vietnamese had when they first arrived, with a few like the Camp manager/Patrick Swayze character and Kid/Forest Whitaker character thrown in to reflect American's own remorse and problems.I found that some of the subjects covered to be a bit abrupt, since many of the characters were not introduced, instead were thrown into the action. Like the man with two wives, and the husband and wife with the pictures of their son, who were dragged out of their beds in the middle of the night. Seeing the deleted scenes on the DVD made the characters more rounded and their situations more understanding, allowing us to connect with them better.Many of the more important subjects seems to be lightly touched upon, and the whole American issue seem to play us out as the savior, as opposed to the aggressor. Even the radio reporting of seem to play to the fear of the well to do Vietnamese since they were the ones being preyed upon during the fall of Saigon, which is not unusual in situations where the oppressed overtakes a imperialist backed government.Most of the acting were very humanistic, but I found Patrick Swayze a bit too apathetic, never allowing us to believe that he is filled with guilt. A big part is probably his natural facial expression, which does not gear toward the sorrow look.All in all, still a good movie to see so that we would know what the people experienced when they first came to the US. A little less mush and a little more on the heavy or more controversial topics would have been welcomed.

This film went beyond anything I had ever expected it to be. The acting was incredible, the scenes were moving and the characters memorable and beautiful. I was so happy to see Patrick Swayze back and looking good and of course Forest Whitaker was fabulous. His relationship with the young Mihn was touching. Please, go rent this movie; you won't regret it.10/10*