The Long Journey
(Ai Xuoi Van Ly)

1981, six years after Vietnam’s war of reunification. At a crowded and chaotic train station in Ho Chi Minh City, Tan, a Viet Cong (CommunistArmy)officer, is trying to find a seat on the train. He is jealously clutching a knapsack. In 1968 Tan had fought with his friend Thai and Mien, a woman soldier. Thai died during the fight. Tan wants to retrieve Thai’s remains and take them to his home village in the north where Thai’s mother hopes that her son’s remains will be given a proper burial according to Vietnamese customs. At a small station, Tan is reunited with Mien, now a small time trader, but the reunion is a bitter one..