This is an action movie that grabs you and doesn't let go. A businessman moves to a 4th-world country in Asia to run the national water company, around the same time that a revolution against the government brought about by poverty ignites. The privatization of the water company is the trigger for the revolution, and thus the businessman becomes the target (along with other foreigners in the country) of a roving band of killers intent upon his death. He and his family manage to escape by crossing the border into Vietnam --- by the skin of their teeth --- with the help of the resident spy. The whole movie is his ordeal to protect his family, even while the options get fewer and fewer as the relentless rebels close in.
While the viewer is meant to sympathize with the businessman and his family, nonetheless the point of view of the revolutionaries is forcefully put forth by the spy: those who are revolting are doing it out of necessity, and the real bad guys are the foreign investor companies (and their foreign governments) who purposely lend these very poor governments money for development that they know cannot be repaid, fully expecting to take possession of the failed developments after default --- and thereby making a bundle.
A coupe of scenes in the movie are rather nerve-wrecking, and lead the viewer to an understanding of the meaning of love. The father throwing his daughters across a street into the waiting hands of his wife on a nearby rooftop --- putting them in terrible danger in order to save them from certain death... the sacrifice of the wife to distract the criminals away from her husband, leading to an attempted rape scene --- a clear act of love of a spouse for another, willing to die in order to save the other... the final kill made by the spy to protect the businessman and his family, leading to his death in the process --- another act of love, this time towards the innocent in danger of murder... the refusal of the daughter to kill her father, even as a gun is pointed at her by a sadistic criminal, and then the father's pleading to her daughter to pull the trigger in order to save her daughter --- clear displays of love between father and daughter.
And when escape is finally so close, the appearance of the Vietnamese army pointing the guns at the fleeing family making it clear that they have no permission to enter their country and that they should turn back recalls the plight of so many immigrants who must risk their skin in order to escape the terrible conditions of the countries they leave behind.
Overall, a thoughtful movie, which manages to be a truly great thriller movie at the same time.
Review by ltcomdataBlockedParentSpoilers2016-12-26T16:58:24Z
This is an action movie that grabs you and doesn't let go. A businessman moves to a 4th-world country in Asia to run the national water company, around the same time that a revolution against the government brought about by poverty ignites. The privatization of the water company is the trigger for the revolution, and thus the businessman becomes the target (along with other foreigners in the country) of a roving band of killers intent upon his death. He and his family manage to escape by crossing the border into Vietnam --- by the skin of their teeth --- with the help of the resident spy. The whole movie is his ordeal to protect his family, even while the options get fewer and fewer as the relentless rebels close in.
While the viewer is meant to sympathize with the businessman and his family, nonetheless the point of view of the revolutionaries is forcefully put forth by the spy: those who are revolting are doing it out of necessity, and the real bad guys are the foreign investor companies (and their foreign governments) who purposely lend these very poor governments money for development that they know cannot be repaid, fully expecting to take possession of the failed developments after default --- and thereby making a bundle.
A coupe of scenes in the movie are rather nerve-wrecking, and lead the viewer to an understanding of the meaning of love. The father throwing his daughters across a street into the waiting hands of his wife on a nearby rooftop --- putting them in terrible danger in order to save them from certain death... the sacrifice of the wife to distract the criminals away from her husband, leading to an attempted rape scene --- a clear act of love of a spouse for another, willing to die in order to save the other... the final kill made by the spy to protect the businessman and his family, leading to his death in the process --- another act of love, this time towards the innocent in danger of murder... the refusal of the daughter to kill her father, even as a gun is pointed at her by a sadistic criminal, and then the father's pleading to her daughter to pull the trigger in order to save her daughter --- clear displays of love between father and daughter.
And when escape is finally so close, the appearance of the Vietnamese army pointing the guns at the fleeing family making it clear that they have no permission to enter their country and that they should turn back recalls the plight of so many immigrants who must risk their skin in order to escape the terrible conditions of the countries they leave behind.
Overall, a thoughtful movie, which manages to be a truly great thriller movie at the same time.