Mr. Cao Goes to Washington
|
Mr. Cao Goes to Washington is director Leo Chiang’s second film to deal with the Vietnamese American community’s political mobilization following Hurricane Katrina. Chiang’s A Village Called Versailles (2009) began with the fight to rebuild New Orleans East, and ended with optimism for a revitalized Vietnamese American community. One of the indirect results of that mobilization was the election of Joseph Cao, a local attorney and former Catholic seminary student, to the US House of Representatives. But seven years after Katrina, many of those visions—including finding new voice in the complex political terrains of the Catholic Church, New Orleans, and Louisiana—remain unrealized. In some ways, the rise and fall of Representative Cao reflect this story. In Mr. Cao Goes to Washington, Chiang focuses on Cao’s aspirations and frustrations in representing Louisiana’s second congressional district from 2009-2011. It is, in Chiang’s words, “a fish-out-of-water character study and a commentary on the American political climate at large.” A Republican, Cao defeats a scandal-plagued opponent to win an overwhelmingly Democratic and mostly African American district. He prides himself on moderate bipartisanship and a collaborative relationship with President Barack Obama, but in many ways suffers for it. As the only Republican to vote for the President’s Health Care bill, he is lashed by his own party. Later, he votes against the final version of the bill, opposed to abortion provisions within it, and angers many in his constituency. His first campaign run, with its widespread optimism and support, is contrasted with his re-election bid: Despite his attempts to appeal to voters as an ethical individual and independent thinker, Cao is increasingly abandoned by his Republican voting base, and by Democrats alienated by the rightward swing of Cao’s party. Chiang’s documentary is a valuable look inside the arrival and departure of the first Vietnamese American to sit in Congress. Ivan V. Small |