The Betrayal (Nerakhoon) is what appears to be the culmination of a lifetime of work for Laotian filmmaker Thavisouk Phrasavath. With clips dating back to his early childhood in Laos and in New York City, it seems that this documentary film is a vision that has been in Phrasaveth's mind from a very young age. With the film earning a few prestigious awards and nominations so far, the years of work are paying off well. This weekend The Betrayal is up for the biggest award of them all: the Best Documentary Feature Academy Award. I will certainly be tuning in to see how this epic film fares against the other films in this often-overlooked category.

Phrasavath's story is truly an epic tale. The film begins with Phrasavath, referred to throughout the film as Thavi, recalling the memory of his father, a soldier in the Laotian army who served alongside US military commanders in the secret air war in Laos during the Vietnam War period. He was Thavi's hero. He was the head of the family and as a small boy Thavi yearned to have his father home and have a complete family. He was proud that his father was a soldier for the US army and wanted to be just like him when he grew up.

As the US military forces abruptly pulled out of Laos in 1973, many of the Laotian army commanders associated with the US became enemies of the government. The new Laotian government, the Pathet Lao, began rounding up soldiers who had worked with the US military commanders, sending them to "re-education" camps. Thavi's mother recalls vividly the day they came to take her husband, Thavi's father, away. She expected he would be executed as an enemy of Laos and feared she and her children would eventually face the same fate. As more family members and relatives of the missing soldiers began to mysteriously disappear, Thavi's mother believed she had two choices: flee Laos with her family, or stay and be executed. So begins the journey of a Laotian family to The United States of America.

As they hastily escape across the Laotian border into Thailand as refugees, they fully expect to find the life of their dreams in the United States. It is the promised land flowing with opportunity for everyone. However, New York City in the late 1970s and early 1980s was hardly the promised land. Rather than a land flowing with milk and honey they find crack houses and Asian gangs. Forced into a tiny space with the entire family in one room they fear for their life and yearn to return home. The promise of a better life is empty and disappointing.

Broken promises, disappointment, and ultimately betrayal run deeply in the life of Thavi and his family. Through their entire story we see people constantly let down by governments, countrymen, and even each other; yet we never hear them cry out to their Heavenly Father. They sometimes mention gods of protection or of comfort or of peace, but never the One True God.

Whenever we place our trust in men or in other gods of various help we are guaranteed to be let down. Men and other gods simply cannot fulfill the promise God has made to us, to protect us (Joshua 1:9), to watch over us (Genesis 28:15), and to guide us in the way that results in a life of hope on earth and eternity with Christ after death (Jeremiah 29:11, John 3:15-16).

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