
By Anthony Buchanan
The Betrayal is a fresh piece of cinematic lyricism, woven freely from found footage, cinéma vérité and personal essay. Not since last year's Trouble With Water has there been so intense a collaboration between filmmaker and subject to bring a personal vision of life to the screen.
The unusual The Betrayal, a collaboration between Ellen Kuras (director and cinematographer) and Thavisouk Phrasavath (subject, editor and co-director), unfolds as a portrait of the betrayals experienced by a Laotian family living in exile in America.
As the film opens, the narrator informs us that Phrasavath's father is gone. We soon learn he was arrested for fighting his fellow countrymen; his family, banished from Laos, has lived in America since 1984. Shot over the course of 23 years, the film subtly unveils the gradual loss of innocence and naïveté of virtually all the family members as the children rebel against their cultural roots. Phrasavath, who is cinematically framed by metaphors of entrapment, spends his youth in search of his identity. In an early scene, he compares his tattoos with those of a man on the street, his existential crisis clear: He is desperately searching for a place to belong in society.
Statements of blind loyalty flood the screen for the first hour, all of which soon turn sour. Here the filmmaker's magic steps in. Images and voice-overs suggest contradictions in the character's beliefs, as Phrasavath's editing evokes ironic juxtapositions. The filmmakers move back and forth in time, and we see the family question their place in the world as the cultures collide.
When Phrasavath's naïve mother states her desire to move to America because it will bring her "one step closer to heaven," we glimpse aerial shots of a city at night that evoke a tourist-like ignorance of reality. Her illusion of safety shatters as her children, one by one, immerse themselves in American culture and lose sight of their origins.
Where the personal can't be stated explicitly, pure cinematic poetry subtly steps in. The Betrayal's visual beauty provides narratives that can only be felt. At times, the story is abandoned as metaphors come in. In a sequence in which Phrasavath leaves his country, we see a collage of stock footage: A man wades through water, followed by birds in flight, both references to rebirth and freedom. In such instances, Phrasavath allows the images to speak for themselves.
Not always, however. The film, highly regarded in the festival world and nominated for the 2009 Academy Award for Best Documentary, certainly has its flaws, such as the overly dense beginning in which the plot seems chaotic. Although it is certainly relevant material, the agendas shoot off into too many directions rather than follow an organic flow. However, The Betrayal settles into itself, and personal journeys and changes come about naturally in this strong film essay about identity, disappointment and expectation.
The Betrayal
Writen and directed by Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath
CCA
96 min., NR