Journey from the Fall

"The Vietnam War has provided the subject material for an extensive list of movies, many of which occupy pride of place amongst the canon of classic American cinema. Up until this point though, scant attention has been paid to the stories of the Vietnamese people themselves who suffered through the conflict and became ‘boat people’, refugees that escaped the remnants of the battle zone and searched for a better life in the United States. Rookie director Ham Tran passionately puts forward this perspective in Journey From the Fall."

"Tran's reliance on declamatory political dialogue and movie-of-the-week inspirationalism feels decidedly old-fashioned and, finally, even phony."

"The film depicts one family's endurance in sturdy, old-movie style, with sweeping camerawork, a monumental and occasionally intrusive orchestral score, gorgeous yet forbidding natural vistas and enough shocking tragedies, brazen escapes and crowd-pleasing acts of defiance to fuel several action-adventure pictures."

"Impressive, often harrowing screen saga about a Vietnamese family's escape to resettlement in America."

"Polished, forthright, and very moving, Ham Tran’s Journey From the Fall ought to stand on its own two feet despite offhanded comparisons to Schindler’s List. It is by turns a tough and tender survival story of Vietnamese boat people that’s more intimate, less remorseful, and not in slightest bit self-righteous."

"An example of sophisticated, impassioned filmmaking involving mainly people who lived through the harrowing experiences so unsparingly depicted, Journey From the Fall powerfully illustrates the refugee/immigrant experience."

"Journey from the Fall re-educates as well as entertains, but never takes the easy way out, nor does it preach. In the end, it's a snippet of one family forever altered, and despite all the political undertones, it's the human level on which the film succeeds most of all."

"Unfortunately, this potentially excellent film is marred by some bizarre story construction. The first half of the film constantly shifts back and forward between time periods, never allowing the audience to settle into the story. Such Lost-style narrative shenanigans may be trendy, but here they end up lessening the impact of a stirring and heartrending tale."