Fred Le’s The Empathizer explores the journey of millennial Việt Kiều (overseas Vietnamese) returning to Vietnam, reflecting his own experiences with cultural dislocation and language barriers. The film highlights the emotional complexities of reconnecting with a homeland that feels both familiar and foreign. In this interview, Le shares insights into how his personal experiences shaped the film and the challenges faced by the returnees.
Can you share how your own experiences living in Vietnam influenced the direction and tone of the film? Did you discover any unexpected parallels between your journey and those of the interviewees?
I first moved to Hanoi, where my family is not from, because it seemed more foreign and exciting than Saigon. Within weeks, I quickly learned how not-Vietnamese I am. The accent was different from anything I’d heard in California, and my command of the language was much worse than I thought. I noticed that people would lose patience with me fairly quickly when they identified me as a Viet Kieu.
The confusion of living in the land your parents left is a constant theme in the film. We explore this in our conversations and narratively. I love surrealism, and we gleefully incorporate it throughout the movie to illustrate the weirdness of the Viet Kieu experience.
The film features a dozen or so millennial-aged second-generation Viet Kieu, each in Vietnam for their own reasons: business, curiosity, opportunity, escape. I moved there in 2017 because I was a bit fatigued by America at that point in my life, and the energy of a rapidly progressing Vietnam was so alluring. Quite a few of the people we meet in the film felt the same way.
What were some of the most surprising cultural differences or challenges that the interviewees faced upon their return to Vietnam? How did they navigate these challenges?
This isn’t surprising to me, but many of the overseas-born subjects in the documentary struggle with communicating in Vietnamese, just like I do. The funny thing is that a lot of Viet Kieu only had to use Vietnamese to speak to elder relatives. As you’re probably aware, the language depends on the speaker’s age and relationship to the conversation partner: “con” versus “em” versus “toi.”
Because we’re used to only speaking to elders, many of us make the mistake of infantilizing ourselves when we speak with other Vietnamese. This doesn’t help when we’re trying to be taken seriously.
Were there any particularly poignant or emotional moments during the interviews that stood out to you? How did you capture and convey these emotions in the film?
During one interview, I started ranting about a particular song that’s played on all VietJet flights before and after takeoff. I was goofing around, singing the song, and complaining about how sad the lyrics are. I didn’t expect to be hit by a sudden rush of emotion while discussing the meaning of this song that we’ve all heard before. It was a surprisingly poignant moment where we realized that this project was going to be much more personal than planned. That moment actually drove the direction of the edit. In a way, getting choked up talking about that “Hello Vietnam” song acted as a North Star for what the movie became.
How have the returnees integrated into the local communities in Vietnam? Are there any stories of them creating or participating in community initiatives that you found particularly inspiring?
When we started the project, we thought it would be interesting to highlight themes like this. However, over the filming process, I found it much more compelling to explore the “why” of living in Vietnam rather than the “what.”
I interviewed Khoa Tran, who currently plays in the VBA (Vietnamese Basketball Association) and was on the Vietnamese national team that won the country’s first basketball medal in the [2023 Southeast Asian Games]. We shot his interview at a rural court on the outskirts of Saigon. Everyone playing that day recognized him and wanted a picture. Seeing his experience being recognized and celebrated in such a setting was far more interesting and authentic than just filming a VBA game. Luckily, I realized this early in the development stage, so we didn’t waste too much time during shooting.
The Empathizer will play on Viet Film Fest 2024’s virtual platform. It will be screened Saturday, October 12 at 3:30 PM at the Frida Cinema in Santa Ana, California.
Interviewer: Alena Nguyen
0 Comments