Review of Green Dragon

The Green Dragon is not particularly a story of the Vietnam war but of the refugees of every war: Their fear for themselves, their missing family members and friends, and their fear of the unknown culture they are being thrust into. Their hopes and their dreams, also. The story itself is about the easy interaction between the little boy who is looking for his lost mother and the black American cook, and the uneasy interaction between the adults of both nations. The Vietnamese characters are very real in their humanity - good, bad, young, old. The film introduces certain aspects of Vietnamese culture (polygamy - filial devotion) that few Americans are acquainted with. It should be noted that the main Vietnamese actor, Don Duong, upon his return to Vietnam was put under house arrest for 6 months for "embarrassing the Vietnamese people".