Daughter from Danang

As the Vietnam War was ending in 1975 an evacuation took place. Thousands of orphans and children of American fathers were taken to the United States. The operation was called Babylift. One of those children was Mai Thi Hiep. She grew up in America as Heidi Bub. Her mother, Mai Thi Kim, stayed in Vietnam. The two of them meet again twenty two years later. Heidi lives in Tennessee now, married with children. For years she had imagined a joyful reunion. She travels to Vietnam and they hold each other and weep. Before long, though, the difference in culture comes between them. Heidi does not know the language, the food or the way closeness is shown. What the family expects of her weighs heavily too. The documentary does not tie it up with an easy happy ending. The eighty three minute documentary is the work of Gail Dolgin and Vicente Franco, an American production finished in 2002.