Early in Chinese-German director Dieu Hao Do’s documentary, Hao Are You, he reveals a few things about himself.
“When I was born, my family had already survived two wars,” says Dao. “They had fled twice, from China to Vietnam and from Vietnam to Germany.”
For much of the rest of the film, he explores why his mother and her six siblings refused, with one exception, to contact one another for decades. It’s a remarkably honest journey through the recollections of one family scarred by war, imprisonment, exodus, and recrimination. Part history, part psychology, and part travelogue, Hao Are You raises important questions about intergenerational trauma.
Why would these family members—scattered between Germany, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, and Vietnam—choose not to get on the phone and chat, let alone meet in person? Director Do decides to hop on planes, visit them individually, and try to unlock this mystery.
Do’s mother, Minh, lives in Germany and she blames Communism. Her youngest sister, Vivian, blames Minh. The oldest sister, Muoi, has lots of awful things to say about Vivian, who only lives 20 minutes away from her in Los Angeles.
Meanwhile, the oldest brother, Kam-Sang, is living in a tiny apartment in Hong Kong after making a mess of his life. The second oldest brother, Sun-Sang, remains comfortably ensconced in the family home in Ho Chi Minh City. He seems to be doing fine, notwithstanding his imprisonment in the 1970s for trying to escape the country. The fourth brother, Tin, lives a sad existence in Hanover, Germany.
Do weaves in historical footage to capture the chaos when Saigon fell to North Vietnamese forces in 1975. It’s illuminating to hear each family member discuss their immense challenges in the ensuing years.
Hao Are You investigates long-term effects
Minh eventually made her way to to Stadthagen in Lower Saxony, where Do was born in 1986. There were only three Vietnamese families in Do’s hometown. Two were ethnic Vietnamese and then there was his family, which is Cantonese-speaking Chinese Vietnamese.
Do points out in his film that more than a million people fled Vietnam after the fall of Saigon, yet nobody in Vietnam discusses this. And from Hao Are You, it’s clear that some are still struggling 50 years later. That’s to say nothing of the effects on their kids.
Kudos to Do for making the world more aware of this through his documentary. Now, it’s up to all of us to do something about that, whether it’s through creating memorials or simply looking upon our neighbours of Vietnamese ancestry with more empathy, given what their families endured.
Watch the trailer for Hao Are You.
LNY Splash and VIFF are co-presenting five films addressing family issues on Saturday (February 8) and Sunday (February 9) to celebrate Lunar New Year. Hao Are You will be screened at 2 p.m. on Saturday in the VIFF Cinema. For tickets, visit the VIFF website, and the film is in Cantonese, German, and Vietnamese with English subtitles. Director Dieu Hao Do will be available on Zoom to discuss the film and take questions from the audience.
Follow Pancouver on X @PancouverMedia, Bluesky @pancouver.bsky.social, and Instagram @PancouverMedia. Also follow Charlie Smith on Bluesky @charliesmithvcr.bsky.social.
