GAMES: GameSpot | GameFAQs | SportsGamer MUSIC: Last.fm | MP3.com MOVIES: Metacritic | Movietome TV: TV.com
Home | About Metacritic | About Metascores | What's New | Wireless Versions | Discussion Forums | Advertising Inquiries | Contact Us | RSS
Metacritic.com: We Deal With Criticism
     Help
> Switch to Advanced Search  
Film Video/DVD Music Games TV

Film

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

 

 

Limited Releases

sort by name sort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

 



Printer-Friendly Version Email This Page Discuss In Our Forums

Beautiful Country, The
Sony Pictures Classics

Beautiful Country, The reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 64 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
8.2 out of 10
based on 23 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 10 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

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

What The Critics Said

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...

80
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.
Read Full Review
80
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.
Read Full Review
80
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.
Read Full Review
80
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.
Read Full Review
80
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.
Read Full Review
75
Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
In the end, it's a heartening, rewarding experience to watch this journey--and, especially, its end.
Read Full Review
75
New York Post Kyle Smith
The movie grows steadily more arresting as it goes on and saves its best parts for last.
Read Full Review
75
Boston Globe Ty Burr
The filmmakers bank against their impulse toward melodrama and deliver a reconciliation that is heartbreakingly understated.
Read Full Review
75
San Francisco Examiner Walter Addiego
Quiet, moving and beautifully shot.
Read Full Review
75
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.
Read Full Review
75
Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Inside the Norwegian director's glove of empathy is a fist of unappeasable anger.
Read Full Review
75
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.
Read Full Review
75
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.
Read Full Review
70
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.
Read Full Review
70
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.
Read Full Review
63
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.
Read Full Review
63
Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Loses itself in melodrama, caricature and narrative missteps.
Read Full Review
63
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.
Read Full Review
60
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.
Read Full Review
58
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.
Read Full Review
50
Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
Provides a panorama without insight.
Read Full Review
50
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
The subject is compelling but the story is very, very slow.
Read Full Review
30
Washington Post Desson Thomson
Feels like a manufactured Asian "Chocolat," which drives the label 'art house movie' even further into mainstream banality.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 8.2 (out of 10) based on 10 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.

Read more user comments...

Discuss this movie in our forums

Return to top of page
Home | FILM | DVD/VIDEO | MUSIC | GAMES | TV | Forums | About Metacritic metacritic.com

Popular on CBS sites: MLB | Spore | iPhone 3G | Paris Hilton | Antivirus Software | GPS | Recipes | Shwayze | NFL

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2008 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use