Children of the Mist (2022) Movie Drinking Game
Take a Drink: whenever bride kidnapping is mentioned
Take a Drink: every time somebody else does
Take a Drink: for every phone call
Take a Drink: every time Mom starts in on Dad
Do a Shot: every time the potential in-laws darken the doorstep
By: Henry J. Fromage (Two Beers) –
The Oscars release shortlists every year for most of its categories, and when it comes particularly to documentary films, you can consider every one of them must-watches no matter which make the final five contenders list.
Children of the Mist is one of the lesser-known entries on the list, but don’t confuse that for lesser. It follows young Di, a Hmong girl living in the highlands of Vietnam, as she goes from a 12-year-old playing games and joking about the local custom of bride kidnapping, to a 14-year-old who it becomes an all to real possibility for.
A Toast
My initial impressions of this film, all agrarian bucolic splendor, local festivals full of drinking and dancing, dirt floors and heavy, dusty blankets, brought me back to my Peace Corps years in Peru. Filmmaker Ha Le Diem achieves an impressively full immersion into this family and community, which pays off in their trust when things get dramatic, but even before that allows for a beautiful portrait of a life both unique and familiar across the globe.
However, this is first and foremost story of a Hmong girl torn between the customs of the generations that preceded her and a world that has been opened up to her via her cell phone (literally everyone has a smartphone these days, even where electricity isn’t a guarantee) and her teachers. There’s a contrast between school, where these are undeniably children, and home, where they are treated like adults whose halting childish romances can become permanent via one ill-advised motorcycle ride.
Diem’s interview with Di’s boyfriend/young kidnapper is especially heartbreaking as he states “I’m still a child. I don’t know why I kidnapped her.” He’s no more ready for or truly understanding of marriage than she is, and the kind of terrifying insistence of his family that they’re irreversibly betrothed doesn’t change that.
Beer Two
Diem toes the line of journalistic ethics, maybe? You’re always cognizant of the camera, particularly at times that cry out for putting it down and doing something to intervene, even if it breaches the form or ruins the film to do so. I understand why she didn’t, but some scenes are undoubtedly a hard watch.
Verdict
Children of the Mist is a beautiful and disturbing coming of age story caught between tradition and modernity.
Children of the Mist premiered December 16th and begins its roll-out across the country this week fresh off of it’s Oscar Best Documentary Feature shortlisting. Check it out!
