America Reframed:My Life in China plays 5/24

Thinking that he had failed at the American Dream director Kenneth Eng's father decides to go back to China from which he defected in 1966, to see if a return to his old home would be possible. Eng traveled with his father and recorded the bit sweet return home to a place full of family, memories and expectations.

Very moving film is not your typical America immigrant story. Here we have the story who came to America with great hope, but despite being highly educated could only find work in restaurants. Then when his wife became sick with paranoid schizophrenia and his business went bankrupt Eng's father began to wonder if it might be time to return home to China with it's seeming booming economy. The joy of seeing his family is tinged with the reality of the situation in China.

I was touched. Over the course of the film we really get to know the elder Eng both inside and out and by the time the ending came I was a bit misty at what happened. I was particularly touched by his teary talk about how his wife's illness effected him, a dropping of the stoic mask for a man who feigned strength through it all.

I am not going to say anything more other than this is one you'll want to seek out. This is a great film and one of those films where the cumulative effect of taking the journey is greater than my telling you the part. You need to take the trip for yourself so that you too can be properly moved.

MY LIFE IN CHINA, will have its national broadcast premiere Tuesday, May 24 at 8/7c (check local listings) as part of WORLD Channel's AMERICA REFRAMED series. The film will also stream nationally online on www.americareframed.com at no cost following the broadcast for 90 days