By Daniel Eng and Jason Thai
Family history is rarely as simple as we remember it, and Ba’s Book proves that some stories become even more complicated when everyone gets a chance to tell their side. Ba’s Book is a daughter’s response to reading the letters that her father wrote to her about his growing up in Vietnam until his arrival in Canada escaping the Vietnam War. Director Ashely Duong reads her father Ba’s book and sets out to recreate a number of key passages and present his story in movie form. Along the way she uncovers a family history filled with sacrifice, uncertainty, and some heartbreaking regrets.
Duong finds brilliance in identifying her father and herself as the most interesting characters in the film. There is a magic found in Duong’s interviews with her father’s siblings. She successfully does what critics believe her father did not do in his book: capture the emotions and connection to family. Thematically, it shares a lot in common with this year’s You Can See Everything by questioning the accuracy and authenticity of recreating memories. Can more truth and emotional vulnerability be achieved through recreation?
What makes the documentary particularly interesting is how unexpectedly meta it becomes. Ashley returns to Vietnam with actors to recreate her father’s experiences, except the actual family members are there watching and correcting how things happened. It’s fascinating, and occasionally amusing, seeing Ashley direct these recreations while pushing her family to explain not just what happened, but how they felt at the time.
Beneath its creative approach is a deeply emotional story about the sacrifices that families make, sometimes without ever receiving recognition. Ba’s Book is a moving reminder that while one person’s journey can be celebrated as a story of survival and success, those left behind may remember it very differently.
Ba’s Book is playing at Reel Asian ’26.
