Unwanted soldiers
A multilayered documentary and endearing tribute to the filmmaker's father, Alex Louie, a Chinese Canadian veteran of World War II. Told in the voice of a grateful daughter, the film retells Louie's experiences growing up in Vancouver's Chinese ghetto. In a time of blatant segregation echoing the Jim Crow laws of America's Deep South, Chinese Canadians were denied basic civil liberties such as the right to vote and right to serve in the military during World War II. Louie recounts how finally the Canadian Army was forced to recruit soldiers who were Chinese-Canadian to carry out top-secret missions behind enemy lines in Southeast Asia. Sworn to secrecy for decades, the filmmaker's father and his fellow veterans now vividly recall their war stories. Unwanted soldier is the untold story of young Chinese-Canadians proudly fighting for a country that had always rejected them, finally receiving recognition and long over-due respect. This heroic military service finally won provincial voting rights for Chinese Canadians in British Columbia
VHS Video, English, ©1999
Distributed by NAATA Distribution, San Francisco, CA, ©1999