Outdoor Movies with the Power to Inspire Vietnam-Era Refugees in Guam

In April 1975, shortly before the end of the Vietnam War, my family boarded an American military aircraft and fled Saigon, the city of my birth. We came to Guam after a three-day stay at Clark Air Base in the Philippines. I was 13 at the time, and in Guam when I first heard that South Vietnam had surrendered. People were cut adrift, spending most of their days in shock.

One night, the American soldiers who cared for our camp told everyone there would be outdoor movies at the beach. I took my five siblings -- ages 3 to 10 -- to the screening. We laughed at vintage Disney cartoons and were somewhat perplexed by a very frenzied version of Dr. Seuss' “The Cat in the Hat.” For an hour or two I forgot that I was a dan ty-nan (“seeker of asylum”) -- a teenager who overnight had to grapple with being a “homeless foreigner” in my adopted homeland. My pain was alleviated by outdoor movies and the happy images of a world beyond the uncertainty of that camp. Nearly a quarter-century later, I still believe in the power of film to soothe, to encourage, to challenge, and to inform.