Product Details

• Actors: Kim Ho Ma, Loeun Lun, Many Uch
• Directors: Nicole Newnham, David Grabias
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Indiepix
• DVD Release Date: June 6, 2008
• Run Time: 76 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0018Q7JYU
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #186,526 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Sentenced Home" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Our culture often moves so impulsively, trying to resolve complex conflicts quickly, forcefully. The directors (Nicole Newnham and David Grabias)...are slowing us down. Bringing us back. Sentenced Home is a long and unflinching look at the sobering and continuing human cost of a rushed and uninformed intervention into a faraway part of our aching planet. --The Asian Reporter

Product Description

Picked for broadcast on PBS's famed Independent Lens series, SENTENCED HOME is a gripping documentary exploration that humanizes the United States' tragically flawed immigration policy. This wrenching and emotionally affecting story follows 3 Cambodian-American immigrants living in Seattle. In the early 80s, these children were among multitudes of Cambodian refugees given shelter from the genocidal Khmer Rouge in Seattle's housing projects. Now, their teenage rebellions have caught with them in a horrific way, and the confluence of their non-citizenship (they are "permanent residents") and post 9/11 anti-terrorism laws lead to their immediate deportation. Directors Nicole Newnham and David Grabias follow the men back to their native Cambodia, a country that is unfamiliar and fearsome to them. Weaving a complex tale that touches on everything from immigration, genocide and our present culture of fear to the ties of family, SENTENCED HOME is a remarkable, and urgent, story. Filmed over the course of three years, filmmakers David Grabias and Nicole Newnham have captured intimate moments that crystallize the raw emotion and human impact of deportation: Loeun Lun saying a painful farewell to his wife and two young daughters the day of his deportation; Kim Ho Ma turning to alcohol and drugs in Phnom Penh as a way to deal with his anger and hopelessness; and Many Uch proudly pledging allegiance to the United States during a baseball game, even as he waits for his turn to be deported.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Refugee Cambodians Continue to Suffer, September 22, 2008

By 

C. R. Went (Australia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sentenced Home (DVD)

This is an excellent documentary, specifically exploring the effects of the US governemnt's policy of deporting Cambodian Permanent Residents if they have had a criminal conviction- although this conviction may have been incurred years before and the offendor served their time, they are still at risk of being deported permanently back to Cambodia, regardless of family ties or other considerations. The programme explores the stories of three Cambodian Americans who have comitted various crimes in their past, crimes usually associated with gang warfare, a consequence of their adolescence and fragmentation from traditional Cambodian culture ( although gang membership amongst young males in contemporary Cambodia is also big). The respective stories are fascinating, as two of the three are deported and have to make permanent lives in Cambodia. The programme's strongest impact though is felt when the mothers of these boys appear in it. These women had survived the KHmer Rouge, walked to Thailand carrying dying children, struggled in refugee camps and had been culturally isolated in the US watching their children grow up in to the world of violence and crime. They now have to live on in the US without the support of their sons and with the knowledge that their sons can never return to the country which they fought so hard to get them to. It's a fascinating, little explored social problem which is well documented here.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An important issue, a heartwrenching story, May 27, 2009

By 

B. Burger "B." (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sentenced Home (DVD)

SENTENCED HOME was released a few years ago, but it has not lost its relevance. The issue of American deportation policy still remains controversial and unsettled, and this documentary sheds an important light on the people that are so affected by these policies. The film follows three young Cambodian American men, refugees of the Khmer Rouge, as they face deportation for minor crimes committed years before. They are forced to leave behind their friends and family for a foreign country they have not seen in many years. They must begin a new life with no means of support. They struggle and they adjust, but they have been forced from the land they call home. This documentary offers much insight into the affects of our actions and policies, and perhaps watching this could make people reconsider splitting apart families and taking away homes. This is truly a powerful work of filmmaking.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Didn't Sway Me, January 16, 2011

By 

aynge mackay "ayngemac" (Long Beach, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sentenced Home (DVD)

Obviously this film was made to make people feel sympathy for the subjects. It was interesting to watch, but I don't feel any pity for these men. They were rescued by the US, given a once-in-a-lifetime shot at a great life, and they all just pissed it away. They admit that they never bothered becoming citizens. It just wasn't important to them. They break our laws, and then they are outraged when they are booted. If only we can exile all our criminals! One of them was especially obnoxious: Kim Ho Ma, a shiftless, wannabe gangsta. After being deported, he was lucky enough to land in a halfway house that gave him free room and board. All he did there was smoke, listen to rap, and play cards. How about helping out the old man mopping the floor at the very least? I could only roll my eyes as he preened and complained that he didn't fit in because he was raised in America. At the very end, all he had to say was F this and F that and F America. Good riddance.