The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)
Dir: Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath
Rating: 3.0
The Cinema Guild
96 Minutes
There is a plethora of films and documentaries about the Vietnam War, but many of us tend to forget that it is a sliver of a country surrounded by Cambodia and Laos. While the conflict has been dubbed "The Vietnam War," it should go without saying the other countries in Indochina were devastated by the fighting as well.
The Betrayal, the first film directed by distinguished cinematographer Ellen Kuras, chronicles the struggle of a Laotian family after the United States pulled out of Southeast Asia. See, Uncle Sam established a secret guerilla army in Laos to battle the Viet Cong and when our troops pulled out, we left the Laotian loyalists high and dry. So much so that when the communist Pathet Lao party took power in 1975, those devoted to the United States were taken into custody and placed into "re-education" camps.
Kuras focuses her camera on Thavisouk Phrasavath (credited as co-director) and his family. Using footage shot over 25 years, Kuras tells a story of another betrayal, but this time on a personal level. When Phrasavath's father is taken away by the Pathet Lao, the family flees first to Thailand and then Brooklyn. America is not quite the Promised Land the family expected and they are forced to grapple with poverty, gangs and neglect.
Time is not linear in The Betrayal as Kuras guides us through archival footage, newsreels of the Vietnam War, televised speeches by JFK (who pronounces the country "lay oss") and home movies shot from the '80s. It is amazing to see time dissolve as Phrasavath changes from a long-haired, tattooed punk to a thoughtful middle-aged man. We also watch his mother harden and dissipate as time squashes her dreams and her family is ripped apart.
Besides the obvious betrayal by the United States, the Phrasavath family (who were forced to leave two daughters behind in Laos when they fled) is ultimately betrayed by their father. Given up for dead, he resurfaces 15 years later, but after an initial visit he tells Thavisouk and his mother that he has married another and has children in Florida. As his father once again exits their lives, Phrasavath says, "Our heart was broken again."
Unlike many documentaries of late, The Betrayal is neither didactic nor bombastic. Phrasavath is a very even-keeled narrator, even when talking about his father's disappearance, the shooting death of a half-brother and the abject poverty in which his family lived. The American Dream is elusive, something that does not come without strings attached. Phrasavath's mother aches for her home in Laos and says that she never stops thinking about her two abandoned daughters.
Though The Betrayal drags in its second half, there are some quietly effective moments within. Kuras intercuts beautiful shots of sunsets over the Mekong and the brilliant robes of monks at prayer. It can be disorientating and hard to find the thread at times. But when Phrasavath finally returns to Laos decades later, nothing can stop the emotional force that follows.
by David Harris