REVIEW: THE BETRAYAL

When Ellen Kuras started to shoot her documentary about refugees from Laos, she had no idea the film would be a two-decade long journey for her and her subjects, Thavi and his family. Kuras was still an unknown in the film industry back then. Over the last twenty years, she had made a career as a renowned cinematographer for her works with directors like Martin Scorsese (No Direction Home: Bob Dylan), Spike Lee (Summer of Sam) and Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), among others. But she never forgets her first project. The resulting documentary—The Betrayal, is a very personal account of the journey of a Laotian family escaping their war-torn homeland, only to end up in the harsh realities of Brooklyn, New York.

The main storyteller of The Betrayal, Thavi, is the eldest son among a family of ten children. Thavi’s father was a military commander for the American-backed Laotian government back in the days of the early Vietnam War. Kuras is interested in the Laotian because she thinks that they are the forgotten ones of the Vietnam War, because Laos was only a neighboring country to Vietnam, but then more bombs have been dropped in Laos than in World War I and World War II combined. The state of Laos was horrific during Thavi’s childhood. When the U.S. retreated from Laos and the Laotian communists claimed victory, Thavi’s father was sent to prison. Thavi’s mother escaped with most of her children and they finally landed in the New York City. But the United States was not as heavenly as they thought it would be. They do not know anyone there. They had no food. Gang violence is rampant. Mother and children were left to fend for themselves in this foreign land. Life away from the war zone, was not rosy at all.

The Betrayal has some of the most poetic imageries one will see in any documentary. Her picture conveys a deep sense of sorrow and loss, but the overbearing soundtrack by Howard Shore (Lord of The Rings) floods the film with sentimentality. The first hour of the movie also seems notably slow because of its heavy use of narration. Thavi and his family have a compelling story to tell, yet most of it is told through interviews, and the film is unable to flesh out the story. The last 30 minutes of The Betrayal is a lot more engaging because the camera captures more of the events happening in the moment. It is interesting to note that Thavi eventually becomes part of the film’s production, and despite its flaws, The Betrayal is an important document about a hidden slice of history.