a good examination of a family's struggle to survive the immigration experience in canada. the film documents the director's return to rural china to see what his own parents were escaping from. the historical accuracy and cultural detail are fantastic. the story can be a bit repetitive at times, but the underlying message is well told and compelling.
the film was particularly poignant for me, as his elders almost certainly came from the same small provincial region as my own ancestors, and spoke the same dying dialect of Chinese, toysan, that now recedes from existence and slips into historical record. a clear picture of a culture in decay is painted, and the assimilatory effects of the dominant Canadian culture is made perfectly clear.
ultimately, a solid exploration of cultural change, quite suitable for anthropological study, providing a good example of directed change and diffusion as motive forces for change.
as a result, it has limited appeal outside of those two interest groups.