Now Playing
Critics & Publications
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search

Upcoming Release Calendar
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

sort by name

sort by score

38 12 Rounds
48 17 Again
76 Adventureland
48 Angels & Demons
54 Battle for Terra
xx Bruno
80 Coraline
40 Dance Flick
83 Drag Me to Hell
72 Earth
45 Fast & Furious
61 Fighting
34 Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
72 Gran Torino
73 Hangover, The
47 Hannah Montana: The Movie
51 Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
54 Imagine That
41 Knowing
32 Land of the Lost
56 Monsters vs. Aliens
34 My Life in Ruins
51 My Sister's Keeper
46 Next Day Air
42 Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
54 Observe and Report
25 Obsessed
48 Proposal, The
70 Public Enemies
61 Soloist, The
83 Star Trek
64 State of Play
55 Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, The
52 Terminator Salvation
35 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
77 Under the Sea 3D
88 Up
43 X-Men Origins: Wolverine
34 Year One

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

sort by name

sort by score

67 $9.99
75 24 City
66 Adoration
74 Afghan Star
48 Alien Trespass
56 American Violet
82 Anvil! The Story of Anvil
57 Away We Go
81 Beaches of Agnes, The
62 Big Man Japan
28 Big Shot-Caller, The
78 Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
55 Brothers Bloom, The
82 Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
xx Call of the Wild
63 Cheri
62 Cherry Blossoms
63 Dead Snow
65 Departures
18 Downloading Nancy
58 Easy Virtue
70 End of the Line, The
77 Every Little Step
64 Examined Life
80 Food, Inc.
38 Gigantic
56 Girl from Monaco, The
67 Girlfriend Experience, The
87 Gomorrah
89 Goodbye Solo
63 Great Buck Howard, The
79 Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
xx Home
82 Hunger
91 Hurt Locker, The
16 I Hate Valentine's Day
81 Il Divo
54 Is Anybody There?
71 Jerichow
58 Julia
74 Lemon Tree
36 Life is Hot in Cracktown
40 Limits of Control, The
42 Little Ashes
64 Lymelife
50 Management
57 Merry Gentleman, The
66 Moon
35 New York
62 Not Forgotten
xx Offshore
78 O'Horten
64 Outrage
40 Paris 36
54 Pontypool
71 Pressure Cooker
52 Quiet Chaos
83 Revanche
67 Rudo y Cursi
86 Seraphine
65 Sex Positive
70 Shall We Kiss?
77 Sin Nombre
59 Sleep Dealer
74 Song of Sparrows, The
54 Stoning of Soraya M., The
82 Sugar
84 Summer Hours
61 Sunshine Cleaning
28 Surveillance
42 Tennessee
63 Tetro
64 Throw Down Your Heart
80 Tokyo Sonata
63 Tokyo!
70 Tony Manero
74 Treeless Mountain
88 Tulpan
74 Two Lovers
83 Tyson
83 U2 3D
60 Under Our Skin
69 Unmistaken Child
69 Valentino: The Last Emperor
22 What Goes Up
45 Whatever Works
57 Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Beautiful Country, The
Sony Pictures Classics


8.3

based on 23 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 11 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

Aberdeen

MPAA RATING: R for some language and a crude sexual reference

Starring Bai Ling, Nick Nolte, Tim Roth, John Hussey, Temuera Morrison, Arthur J. Nascarella, and Damien Nguyen

Bui doi - "less than dust" - is a slur aimed at Vietnamese children with American fathers. This film, set in 1990, relates the odyssey of a young "bui doi" as he escapes Vietnam, endures refugee camp, and survives a brutal ocean crossing and indentured servitude with a human-trafficking ring. Nevertheless, he manages to keep hope, humanity, and a generous spirit alive as he searches for connection with his long-lost family. (Sony Pictures Classics)

GENRE(S):	Drama \| Foreign
WRITTEN BY:	Sabina Murray (also story) Lingard Jervey (story)
DIRECTED BY:	Hans Petter Moland
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: December 13, 2005 Theatrical: July 8, 2005
RUNNING TIME:	137 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA / Norway
LANGUAGE(S):	Vietnamese (with English subtitles)

Nonimated, Golden Berlin Bear, 2004 Berlin International Film Festival

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

The film achieves its power through a careful gathering of crucial details, in wordless glances, cruelties of nature and of man and the relentless determination to gain the promised land.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

It is a straightforward, conventional narrative, charting seemingly endless cruelty and hardship, but rewards the patient with an eloquent climactic sequence that is impossible to predict.

TV Guide Ken Fox

Versatile, highly skilled Norwegian director Hans Petter Moland's poignant drama examines the lingering effects of U.S. intervention in Southeast Asia.

Dallas Observer Bill Gallo

Generous in spirit and fearlessly observant, this tale of an outcast Vietnamese man's journey to freedom deserves a place of honor among the great films portraying emigrant tenacity.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

The script, by newcomer Sabina Murray, is occasionally cloying as the naive hero falls for a bitter prostitute (Bai Ling), but its epic tale of two cultures tragically entwined is anchored by deep and elemental emotions.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

In the end, it's a heartening, rewarding experience to watch this journey--and, especially, its end.

New York Post Kyle Smith

The movie grows steadily more arresting as it goes on and saves its best parts for last.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

The filmmakers bank against their impulse toward melodrama and deliver a reconciliation that is heartbreakingly understated.

San Francisco Examiner Walter Addiego

Quiet, moving and beautifully shot.

USA Today Claudia Puig

The Beautiful Country might be too slow-moving for some, but it has powerful performances and a multi-layered quality. It is an epic journey worth taking.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Inside the Norwegian director's glove of empathy is a fist of unappeasable anger.

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

One of those hard-to-pin-down movies where you're not quite sure which sort of story the filmmakers wanted to tell.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

The Beautiful Country is not a happy film by any means, but it does offer a fragile hope, that beauty exists at the end of every journey, if only one has the strength to finish the trip.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

It is hard not to admire the independence and ambition of The Beautiful Country, even if the film does fall short of its epic intentions.

Variety Derek Elley

Standout performance is by Nolte who, in the final 20 minutes, draws on a deep reservoir of playing broken romantic heroes to portray Binh's father. The subtle, resonant scenes between the two men are worth the price of admission.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

Bai Ling plays a resourceful prostitute from a Malaysian refugee camp who grows harder and more alienated by the day. Nick Nolte, Tim Roth and Temuera Morrison offer strong supporting performances.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Loses itself in melodrama, caricature and narrative missteps.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Jason Anderson

With its visual splendour, The Beautiful Country is indeed lovely to behold, but its story of human misery and survival doesn't always benefit from the painstaking art direction, picturesque vistas and surges of dramatic music.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson

A gorgeous film, framed with an eye that makes every country seem beautiful in one way or another. It's probably fitting that the human element seems fragile and flat by comparison, but the contrast leaves Beautiful Country fairly bland.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Bill White

The Beautiful Country has an epic bearing, but a trite and troubled script makes it more a visual tirade than an engaging odyssey.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Provides a panorama without insight.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The subject is compelling but the story is very, very slow.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Feels like a manufactured Asian "Chocolat," which drives the label 'art house movie' even further into mainstream banality.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.3 (out of 10) based on 11 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Robert gave it a7:
Lovely, surprising film that carries emotional weight through a young man's wide-ranging search for his father. underrated by many, worth watching.

Bob gave it a10:
Within 5 minutes you could tell this was not an American made movie - too subtle and too intelligent for the mass audiences. I was surprised to find it was of Norwegian origin, though.

Ray S. gave it a10:
The cadence of the film is deliberately slow, but it works to draw the viewer into the story, and to the ending, which is poignant and understated--and rings true emotionally.

Barbara C. gave it a10:
THIS IS an awesome movie. If you are interested in Vietnam or not..it is about hope ...go see it! The characters were gripping and the story so moving. I wish more movies like this were being made!

Doug gave it a9:
A very memorable film. Great cinematography, fascinating, well told story. Even though it's a long film, it holds your interest throughout.

Gal gave it a10:
Great cinematography...excellent script...very realistic story about the tragedy of Vietnam..incredibly sensitive portrait.

Beautiful Country, The Sony Pictures Classics

Beautiful Country, The
Sony Pictures Classics