‘Child Of Dust’ review: Doc follows Amerasian as he reunites with GI father

Dir: Weronika Mliczewska. Poland/Vietnam/Sweden/Czech Republic,/Qatar. 2025. 93mins.

Tons of of hundreds of kids had been born to native girls and American servicemen throughout the Vietnam Battle. 5 many years after the Fall of Saigon, some Amerasian kids – now middle-aged – are nonetheless looking for their fathers. Polish director Weronika Mliczewska’s compelling feature-length debut documentary follows the brave and decided Sang Ngo Thanh as he makes the turbulent journey to satisfy his father for the primary time. 

Sombre however tenderly shot and heartfelt

Sombre however tenderly shot and heartfelt, Mliczewska’s quiet and intimate observational movie – which has The Stringer director Bao Nguyen amongst its producers – brims with feeling. Youngster Of Mud hinges on common themes of affection and belonging, and is prone to forge a powerful reference to audiences at additional festivals helped by its Particular Point out within the Worldwide Competitors at Thessaloniki. Distributors may be received over by its humanistic enchantment.

Anybody who has seen Claude-Michel Schonberg and Alain Boublil’s hit musical Miss Saigon can be conversant in the so-called ’kids of mud’. The unfavourable epithet grew to become hooked up to the undesirable offspring of American GIs, kids who then who confronted excessive prejudice within the south-east Asian nation after the warfare. As Sang, whose personal childhood was impoverished and brutal because of his circumstances, sends his DNA away for testing, Mliczewska already offers us a way of the significance of the act to him. “I wish to change my destiny,” he states.

Even when they get a DNA hit, many Amerasians face speedy rejection from their fathers however Sang is without doubt one of the luckier ones; father Nelson Torres and his kids are all decided to welcome this new member of their clan. The rawness of the primary video name between Sang and his US household brings collectively the complicated feelings at work, from Sang’s unbounded pleasure as he lastly sees his dad to Nelson’s remorse as he remembers his relationship with Sang’s mom and his regret about Sang’s life experiences.

Given the power of those emotions, footage of Sang going about his on a regular basis life, displaying the shut nature of his relationship together with his spouse and his love for his grandchild, who they’re caring for, gives a welcome respite. However with Nelson too sick to journey, the one possibility Sang has is to get an American visa; as a result of stringent US guidelines, it’s a one-way journey he must make with out his spouse and household. Whereas not entering into the pink tape, Mliczewska signifies the steep challenges Sang now faces. Past the intricacies of navigating a visa system together with his poor academic background, he’s additionally going through an awesome selection between the house he is aware of and a possible new one which he must deal with alone. 

It won’t come as a shock that the fact of the US doesn’t match Sang’s idealistic hopes, as he grapples with cultural and language obstacles in addition to the burden of his personal expectations, however Youngster Of Mud has extra twists than you would possibly anticipate. Regardless of the difficulties confronted by Sang and his households in each international locations, Mliczewska’s empathetic method additionally celebrates the power that group can provide in these conditions, and the small gestures that may have large significance. The melancholic rating from Joaquin Garcia additionally feels gently supportive as occasions unfold, relatively than a tool used to to wring further emotion.

Though the movie skips over a number of the finer ins and outs of Sang’s first months in America, his bravery and stoicism are outstanding. And, as bookending archive footage of Amerasian kids reminds us, his story is unfortunately removed from distinctive.