Patrick's portrayal of "Jim Lance" is awesome. His character undergoes some important character development, as do the other characters. This is an inspiring story of human relationships and transition at a very difficult time in history.

According to a very interesting article on the filming of "The Green Dragon" by An Tran in Cinematography World, the stars and their characters are described as: "Don Duong as Tai Tran, an ex-translator for the army; Trung Hieu Nguyen as a young boy searching for his mother; Forest Whitaker as the American cook that befriends him; and Patrick Swayze as the sergeant who oversees them all.", and goes on to note that the movie "is a kaleidoscope of characters who are all looking for something but must overcome the pain of the past in order to go on."

The article relates part of an explanation for the title as follows: "Despite two-thirds of the film being moody and unaffecting, the relationship between Minh (the young boy who tries to find his mother) and Addie (Whitaker) offers a flicker of hope for a child who is in an unfamiliar and often imposing place. "The two characters identify with each other and have a special relationship where they later paint the mural of the green dragon," Morgenthau explained. "The bond takes place inside a storage room. When we go into this world, it has a whole different quality from outside. We used very warm, golden light to show their friendship and that it was a safe place for Minh to escape from the cold, alienating atmosphere of the camp."

In Focus, for the VC Film Festival where "The Green Dragon" was premiered on May 17, 2001 in Los Angeles, expands the characters slightly as follows:

It is really an amalgamation of different stories. Two refugee children (newcomers Trung Nguyen and Jennifer Tran) watching and waiting for their mother to join them. A camp cook (Forest Whitaker), paints in his spare time and befriends one young boy.

An ex-translator for the army (Don Duong), because of his bilingual skills, assumes a leadership role while he yearns for a lost love. And the staff sergeant (Patrick Swayze) who rules over the camp and speaks through bullhorns, learns some valuable lessons about humanity.

More story insight comes from a list review by Daniel C. Tsang who relates:

Tran falls in love with Thuy Hoa (Hiep Thi Le of Bugis Street and Heaven and Earth fame), a diminutive woman with a Cheshire-cat grin who lashes out at Lance after her father commits suicide. It?s one of the film?s few political scenes, Hoa blaming Lance (and, by extension, the U.S.) for "abandoning" South Vietnam. Lance is a stand-in for the U.S. war effort, and like the nation, he has his own demons: he successfully urged his younger brother to enlist, only to realize after his death that his sibling didn?t want to go. Now he hopes to make amends by painlessly resettling the refugees.

"I can only imagine how difficult this is for you and your people"

Sgt. Jim Lance

Photo courtesy of Mark Craig. Our hearts and prayers go out to marines like Mark and his friends, shown here with Patrick during the shoot at Camp Pendleton, in this time of national crisis. Mark wrote very favorably about Patrick's performance and noted that Patrick "is a wonderful guy and very nice.. His wife also was there and she was quite a lovely lady." He even noted, "they brought the dogs." Mark and his buddies were extras in the movie, so keep an eye out! Thanks, Mark, for sharing the photo!

From the production notes: Camp Pendleton was one of the official sites for the relocation of Vietnamese refugees in 1975. When the call came in, in April of 1975, the marines literally had about 48 hours to set up before the first refugees arrived. Over 50,000 refugees passed through by the time the gates officially closed on October 31, 1975. To this day, the United States Marines considers it one of their greatest humanitarian acts.

"Green Dragon" has been nominated by the Political Film Society for best film expose for 2002 "for the film's role in bringing to light the pathos of the Vietnamese refugee experience". A detailed review which includes spoilers (so beware) can be found here.

Production Notes of Interest

The casting process began with auditions with about 100 Vietnamese SAG actors, an amount that far exceeded their expectations. Open casting calls were then set up in Orange County where in one day they saw over a thousand hopeful thespians; men, women, and children from 3 years old to 80 years old. A week later they did the same open call in San Jose, Ca. where 800 people showed up. Both the little Boy and Girl were discovered at the casting call in San Jose. Overall eight characters, both supporting and leads, were decided upon from the open calls.

Patrick Swayze wasn’t the first choice for Lance. Timothy’s concern was having a big Hollywood actor in a small movie and that Patrick’s presence might overshadow the project. But upon meeting with the actor, Timothy fell in love with Patrick’s compassion and understanding of the material. Upon leaving that meeting, Timothy knew that Patrick was the right man to play Lance.

Don Doung is widely regarded as one of the most talented actors of the post-war generation in Vietnam. Born on August 27, 1957 in the city of Dalat, he began acting in 1982 and has since appeared in over fifty feature films. In 1993, he won the Vietnamese Best actor Award for the film “Dau An Cua Quy,” which also won prizes at international film festivals worldwide. Other notable films include “Cahn Bac” and “Co Lau” which won Best Picture at the Vietnamese National Film Festival.

Spirit Dance Entertainment is the production company of Forest Whitaker, acclaimed actor, director and producer. The company has divisions in film, television and music. The feature film division is interested in character and creator driven material of different genres that express a unique viewpoint. Spirit Dance projects should be marked by their capacity to inspire a range of positive emotions in an audience through courage, faith in ourselves or our fellow persons, hope, laughter, love, overcoming adversity, perseverance, or political struggle, The company produces projects for Whitaker and other directors.

"Green Dragon" is written and directed by Timothy Linh Bui; produced by Elie Samaha, Andrew Stevens, Tony Bui, and Tajamika Paxton; Executive produced by Forest Whitaker and Alison Semenza; Story by Timothy Linh Bui and Tony Bui; Director of Photography is Kramer Morgenthau; Music by Mychael Danna and Jeff Danna; Casting by Rene Haynes.

A child awakens to a sea of bodies, stretched out across the massive floor, side by side, alive yet lifeless. Careful in his step, he walks over the bodies, one by one, unsure of the moment, confused by its time and place. The sunlight from an open door draws him nearer, both blinding and illuminating, revealing something both familiar and unfamiliar: the American Flag.

In 1975, refugee camps were set up across the deserts of the United States to house an exodus of over 100,000 Vietnamese immigrants before and immediately after the fall of Saigon. They were considered the first wave, and would represent the beginning of a new generation of Americans.

The child, MINH PHAM, opens our eyes to this new struggle, where, like the flag, America is both familiar and unfamiliar. Through his daily search for his mother in the vast Camp Pendleton Marine Base, California, we are introduced to a kaleidoscope of characters, and through their eyes we witness the spirit of imagination, ambition, hope and rebirth; as well as tragedy of torn families, false expectation and lost identity.

Along the way, Minh meets ADDIE - an American who volunteers as a cook at the camp. He immediately takes a liking to Minh as they share a common interest in drawings and Batman comic books. Without verbally understanding each other, they have an unusual bond through drawings and music, and the common loss of a mother. They paint a mural together, bridging culture and history, where another America is revealed, outside of the Sears-Roebuck catalogs and shopping malls, and a spirit of innocence is formed, beyond life and death.

TAI TRAN, Minh's uncle and a former translator for the U.S. Army, is asked by Staff Sergeant JIM LANCE to be a camp manager. The war has ended, yet each has an internal battle in need of peace. Lance's brother died in the war and left behind a letter describing the only woman he ever loved, a Vietnamese nurse who cared for him when he was wounded. Lance's journey of understanding, through both the letter and the woman, help de-flame a hidden guilt that has plagued him for years. Tai also is at war with his own personal guilt and with Lance's help, finds the strength to look forward without forgetting the past.

Minh's wanderings also brings us to DUC, an opportunist embracing capitalism and the fast dollar, LOI, with two wives and as many secrets, a General, who shamed himself and his men for arriving to the camp before them, and a myriad of other characters with one foot in the new land and one foot in the old, yet still trying to stand tall.

Uncommon stories merge to create a fabric of common struggles, desires and fears; and like the wavering flag, and America herself, GREEN DRAGON is both familiar and unfamiliar, and removes our blinds to illuminate.

"The Green Dragon" has already been recognized for excellence in various arenas. First, The Humanitas Prize was awarded to the film in 2001. According to the mission statement, "With this award, we seek to encourage the communication of those human values which will help its viewers grow and develop and become the fulfilled human beings God made them to be." "The Green Dragon" won in the Sundance Feature Film Category and was cited for ""leading us through the grief of loss and the dreams of a new world: for showing us how cultural differences can be overcome by compassion."

At the Sundance Film Festival itself, this emotionally stirring film was nominated for the prestigious Grand Jury Prize.

Most photos courtesy of Silver Nitrate Releasing and Franchise Pictures. See more great photos from "Green Dragon", as taken by the talented Peter Stone, on his website.

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Page Last Updated 05/28/02

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