Vincent Who? (2009)
Documentary about the murder of Vincent Chin in 1982 and the aftermath. The documentary also explores the modern Asian-American identity when so few Asian-American youths are aware of who Vincent Chin is.
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Crappy film
If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.
Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.
Like the many people interviewed at this documentary's introduction, I didn't know who Vincent Chin was up until very recently, when I stumbled into an Wikipedia entry that caught my attention. A brief summary of the events: Chin was a Chinese worker tragically murdered in Detroit, in 1982, confused as Japanese by two unemployed white autoworkers due to the Anti-Japanese sentiment brought on by the massive competition in the auto industry with oriental companies taking over the business with their efficiency and causing the American business to shut down with loss after loss, firing thousands of people. What angered society at the time was the fact that the perpetrators received fines and no jail time due to technicalities and a lousy perception from the judge who viewed the murder as a manslaughter, with the men simply intending to cause harm but not kill, he didn't considered as a hate crime and that's it. From that, the Asian community gathered in many American states protesting, forming coalitions and demanding for justice. Sadly, it didn't came but something more powerful rose from it, which helped to avoid more cases like this to take place."Vincent Who?" analyzes the crime very briefly, focusing mostly in the advances of the Asian community and their causes in America fighting for civil rights, all which sparkled after the horrible tragedy, always remembering the victim in tributes, discussions and screenings of the Oscar nominated documentary released in 1988. The film is a complement of their efforts in those 30 years raising awareness on their progress and what's more to be done by all the Asian movements in U.S. Thanks to this film, this is an important part of history that won't be forgotten and needs to be more discussed by everyone. 10/10