1
Lap Quan, I am Wu Viet!
I will be leaving Saigon tomorrow.
I am going as a refugee to Hong Kong.
I do not know if you will get this letter.
I have not written to you for a few years,
and I do not know if you have
changed your address in Hong Kong.
I was in the army
for the last several years, fighting.
I was home several times on vacations
and I had read the letters you sent.
I am not so sure
you will recognize me though...
What is she doing?
She is tired.
I'm going to sleep too.
Sleep.
What is wrong? Are you not feeling well?
Nothing,
we are in Hong Kong!
Everybody go over there,
slowly and in order.
Over there.
Sit down and wash your hair.
One after one.
Wu Viet...Wu Viet!
Wu Viet...
Wu Viet...Wu Viet...
Wu Viet...
Wu Viet...
- Lap Quan, Lee Lap Quan!
- Wu Viet
- Lee Lap Quan
- Wu Viet...
- Lee Lap Quan!
- Wu Viet...Wu Viet!
I never would have believed that
I am going to meet you here.
I nearly could not recognize you.
I got your letter
and I had been waiting here every day.
- My telephone number is 382567
- Go and wash your hair
I will wait.
- What?
- Wash your hair!
I know, 382567
Call me
Remember to look me up
Ritz theatre shows what kind of films?
Hollywood movies.
Where is Tai Kong theatre?
Governor Fong Street
Are you Wu Viet?
Yes.
How do you do
How do you do...
Come, help me with these things.
Vietnam sausages...
And oranges.
Thank you!
You are really Wu Viet?
Yes!
Did you come alone?
There were quite a few people in the boat.
No, I mean in your family.
Yes, I am alone.
I have to go now, I will see you again, Bye!
Why do we have to go to the States?
You are going to school.
I will follow you?
Alright, what is in the bag?
My picture with my mother.
My aunt made me these clothes,
and 3 note books.
I wonder what is going to happen
to those people on the deserted island.
In our boat,
I saw 2 people driven into the sea by the spy.
We are lucky.
It'll be terrible if we had land
and then get killed.
They are alright.
I'm not alright,
I saw they dump those people in the sea.
You can be a witness.
But I didn't see their face.
Let's be careful.
It is all over so fast.
We can do without money,
but we're finished without a country.
How long have you lived in Vietnam?
3 generations!
You must have made quite a bit
at the army supply store.
It's all over now,
I don't have anything anymore.
Everything will be alright,
stop worrying.
I am worried about those special agents.
Because I saw them
dumping a woman into the sea.
Have some rest now,
and let me know if there is anything!
Alright, you sleep first.
What would you like to drink?
Sugar Cane juice.
- What about you?
- Sugar Cane juice.
2 sugar Cane juice please.
Coming.
This place is just like Vietnam.
I come here often
to talk to those ex-convicts.
I am a social worker.
Drink up!
Your son?
His father was killed by the pirates.
These are the letters I tried to send you,
No one would lay down their gun
and write letters in the front line.
People tried their best
to stay away from flying bullets at the time.
I had tried to write several times.
But I'd torn them all up.
Why?
I was afraid that by the time
you received them, I'd be dead.
Listening to a dead man bring bad luck.
When I visited you at the camp last time,
did I look crazy?
I am not that innocent
What are you like?
When a person has been working too long,
she gets a little slow in the head.
You are not different.
You look different from your photograph.
People will look different
after they'd killed so many people.
Actually, you don't look too good.
My friend sleeping next to me
was strangled to death last night.
Who did it?
Special agents.
Why do they have to kill him?
Special agents are spy.
If you knows their secret,
they will kill you.
Did you see it?
Go and tell the police, quick.
This is very confusing.
All Vietnamese are the same
in the eyes of the police.
What are you going to do?
The nightmare will end If I kill him.
Aren't you afraid
they might not let you go to the States?
I won't be able to go anyway if I'm dead.
I have to go back to the camp now.
Can you remember my phone number?
I remember.
Do you know your way?
Yes!
Don't do anything silly.
What's happening? Why so noisy?
Let's go and see.
I need a 'P', but it's so dark!
Be a good boy, I've something to do,
you go by yourself!
Hello...I'm coming over right now!
How come there is nothing?
All political matters are covered up,
it is not so unusual.
I don't know if you would like to eat those.
Who?
Fast food delivery, open up!
We didn't order any fast food.
I am sorry, wrong room.
You don't have to be so nervous.
If I was not careful,
I'd have been killed by the Vietcong last time!
I cannot stay here too long.
I can find you a phoney passport.
Wong!
I didn't do anything wrong.
No, you didn't, but can you help me?
Talk!
I want you to get me a phoney passport.
You told me to associate myself
with those people.
I want you to contact them now.
It'll be very expensive.
The important thing is
to have the right connections.
I will only introduce you to them.
You want to smuggle into the United States?
What for?
You got me involved.
And I want to know the truth!
I killed someone!
1st degree or manslaughter?
I killed a special agent!
They deserve it.
Alright, I'll help you. 100,000 dollars.
I don't have so much money.
It's not easy to go to the United States.
Put it this way, I'll sat it one more time.
Take it or leave it.
Expenses are necessary.
And there's no way you can do without.
Pay the 30,000 first.
The 70,000 you can pay after you got to U.S.A.
And found work in Chinatown.
I'll think about it.
You have no choice.
Talk to your girl-friend and
try to whip up the 30,000.
Someone will tell you to come
to learn Japanese in a few days.
Try to say "my home is in Kyushu" in Japanese.
My home is in Kyushu.
Not bad.
If you can't ever speak Japanese.
How can you pretend to be
a Japanese in going to U.S.A.
If worse comes to worst,
use a combination of ChuChow & Japanese.
It's your turn.
My home...
You'll make it worst
if you don't concentrate, try again.
Damn bastard.
What did you say?
I don't understand.
My home is in Kyushu.
Stop fussing, listen to me,
My home is in Kyushu.
My...home...in...Kyushu.
My home is in Kyushu.
Are you from Vietnam?
Yes!
I'll teach you one more sentence,
"My home is in Saikwok".
No thanks!
I thought you liked it!
How long have you been here?
Very long.
We've been waiting so long,
let's use the stair-case!
I 90 with you!
Didn't you want to leave with me?
- Is your home near?
- Yes!
Are you free now? I want to show you a place.
I don't like crowded places.
The place is not crowded.
A little bit dark maybe, many flowers for sale.
Don't you afraid of darkness?
I am used to it!
Go over there!
Is it interesting?
It is interesting.
Why do you want to go to the States?
Because I want to make a living.
What about you?
One of my former customers
had emigrated to the U.S.A.
and he wanted me to go no matter
how much money he has to spend.
That's why you 9O!
Yes. And I have no relative in Hong Kong,
life is so boring.
Buy some, these flowers are so pretty.
Take your time and choose!
Stop running...
Stop!
Please...Let us go...Let us go...
Sit!
How did it go? Was the movie popular?
Not bad, are there any actors?
Yes!
Don't buy me anything.
I didn't buy them for you.
I bought them so that you'll look lik Japanese.
Where is the location to gather?
I can't tell you.
I know these things have to keep in secret.
Don't worry about it.
I'll pay you back the money
as soon as possible.
Have I ever said that?
No, I feel bad about it.
Feel bad?
I seldom know what the right thing to say is.
When you arrive,
will you really live in Chinatown?
I'll think of something when I get there.
If you're in trouble, will you look me up?
I'm afraid I won't have time.
Li Lap Quan, Shum Ching.
Sorry!
She is also using a phoney passport.
She comes here to meet...
ls everything packed?
Everything is packed!
What about the letters I gave you?
They're here.
It's more convenient
if you let me to keep them for you.
It's alright!
It's not alright.
I'd carried them to war before.
And I never get killed.
I won't go to see you off.
I'll write to you.
Alright!
You might need money over there.
Your girlfriend?
Pen-friend!
Are you afraid that
we might not be able to leave?
I am not afraid, are you?
Neither am I.
You two follow me!
You follow me! You sit down here!
When I get to the States,
I won't go and look up that jerk.
He gave you the money to go.
I'll spend a clay with him
and I'll look you up in Chinatown.
I'll go with you.
Alright!
Excuse me, may I borrow a light? Thank you!
Thank you!
Shum Ching! Shum Ching!
Shum Ching!
Shum Ching!
The male lavatory is there.
My pants are all wet, how can I see people?
Where is the girl?
Chinatown!
Why?
Bu...Business...
Bring him inside.
Take me to Chinatown.
My friend!
No reason not to go to the States
because of one woman.
Thank you.
Don't believe that I'll kill you in one shot.
I'll kill very slowly.
Like the Viet-congs like to do.
Why don't you dance?
I want to see youe boss!
Call Mr.Chung.
Mr.Chung is not here.
Call Migual...
Call Migual...
Call Migual...
Migual...
Migual...
Migual...
Why don't you have the lights on?
Are you the boss?
My name is Chung!
Where is the Shum Ching?
Put down your gun and we'll talk!
Talk!
What you wanted is a woman, not her dead body.
Given if you have your gun pointed at my head
and ask me to let her go.
You won't be able to leave Chinatown.
Migual!
Mr. Chung is back.
You put away your gun and follow me.
Please sit down!
I heard you're hold out for 2 hours,
have a drink first.
Where is the Shum Ching?
Have a drink first, put away your gun.
I won't be able to talk to you like this.
What is your name?
Wu Viet!
Wu & Viet, aren't you Chinese?
Vietnamese Chinese.
What is your relationship with Shum Ching?
Ff lend!
Ff lend!
I'd promised to look after her.
Have you always fulfilled all your promises?
Now I understand.
Understand What?
If you can't do it, you can't do it.
I suspect that you must have injured
or killed a Philippine policeman.
Because you're smuggled on a plane.
You couldn't have a gun.
And you've come here from the airport.
The gun must be taken from the police.
I'll only need to make one phone call
to prove my theory.
I know you're using a phoney passport,
that's not a problem.
But injuring a policeman,
the penalty for injuring
or killing a police is severe here.
You're lucky to be sitting here.
Because you're Chinese,
lam Chinese and he is Chinese.
You've got guts.
You've got yourself a stable job here.
I'll use your salary
to get you a phoney passport.
And then you'll be free to go after a while!
What about Shum Ching? I won't go alone.
This you'll have to make clear,
we bought Shum Ching with our money.
And she does what we tell her to do.
But I can promise you.
No one will touch her.
I'll have to take her away.
Then you'll need to
have enough money to redeem her.
What do you want me to do?
I'll let you know.
What I'd promise, consider it done.
Tell Chum Ching that I'm here.
You'll talk to her yourself when you meet her!
Ah Sarin, take Mr. Wu to his room.
Give me the gun.
Remember, don't leave Chinatown.
Don't go looking for Shum Ching,
you won't find her.
He is a man.
His boyfriend dumped him.
That's why he's looking everywhere
for his boyfriend.
Nobody minds him,
he'll sing for a while and then leave.
Mr. Chung knew you're a bit tight with money
and wants you to have these.
This money will be enough
for a few cans of beer but not woman.
I don't want beer now.
I only drink rice wine
but they've hard to find.
Adios.
Ah Viet!
Add some water and sugar
but not too much coconut juice.
The boss does not want to waste anything.
Go up and see what the customers want to drink.
Ah Viet!
Shy?
What are you looking at?
Don't you have to go to school today?
Good Morning.
Do you want an ice-cream?
Eat slowly!
- Try it,
- Thank you.
Did you have good time?
Customers!
Ricardo!
Don't fight, he is my friend.
Don't fight, if you kill him,
your girl-friend will suffer.
Let's
Go!
Have an ice-cream.
Have an ice-cream, eat up!
Hold this, hurry up and eat, you eat up too.
Eat, Philippine mango ice-cream is best known.
When can we go?
I work on a commission,
If you find a good family, it is your luck.
Girls who got married to nice families
come back to see me sometimes.
Why are you crying again? Don't cry...
Don't cry...
Don't cry, stop crying!
Got and give her some water, hurry up!
I don't know whether your boss works
for money or for power.
For power.
Really?
Really!
And you?
For both.
Good, I'm old
I just want to earn some money
and be able to have friends
Mr. Chung wanted you
to go to the night club tonight.
The staff here can only drink ice-water,
but I'm exceptional.
The one good thing about
working here is that you can
throw out those face you don't like.
Bring Shum Ching here!
Yes!
Who is Migual?
I heard he's the bastard son of Mr. Chung.
And a Philippine woman.
And I heard that
woman had eloped with some other man.
Then Mr. Chung found them,
he used the Philippine's favorite knife
the "butterfly knife"
and killed them.
But Chinatown is always full of rumors.
Shum Ching!
Mr. Chung, there is trouble,
please come and see!
You are going to back on your words.
Who brought her here to do the show?
Take Shum Ching back.
Let Shum Ching follow me!
I have an idea, we'll go someplace and talk.
I won't go!
Don't be afraid,
I'll come and pick you up in a while.
You go back first!
Sir, what about me?
You don't touch her or I will kill you!
How do you like this room?
It's not bad!
If you're not comfortable over there,
why don't you move in here?
My friends have moved abroad
and I'm looking after his house.
Come and see the room!
What do you want me to do?
Let's talk!
Sit down and talk slowly!
The snake-head is still alive
and he is in hospital.
I heard you were in the army.
That's right!
You killed a lot of communists.
I had lost count.
And you had killed a man in Hong Kong?
Can you do me a favor?
What will I get out of it?
Like I said,
money, passport
And if you've enough money
to buy Shum Ching out.
She goes with you.
When do I do it?
In 2 days.
I want Shum Ching now.
Come over here!
Please try your best
to make yourself feel at home.
If you're caught by the Philippine police,
you must run away.
Why?
If they kill you,
it'll save them the trouble of going to court.
Who is to be killed?
Don't know.
You don't need to be worry.
Mr. Chung is used to it,
You won't know who works for him
until the last minute.
Is that you?
Get up the car...
At the back!
Lap Quan, I'm in Chinatown already.
But this is not the U.S.A, but the Philippines.
Even at which Chinatown,
I think my situation will be the same.
Because I have no identity.
I can solve people's problem with no problem.
Like today, I & my partner had
just killed a Philippine.
You need not worry about me.
I had experienced
the most dangerous situation in Vietnam.
It's much simpler to kill people here
compared to Vietnam.
And the target is simpler,
I just wanted to make a fast buck
and buy myself a phoney passport.
My partner too has come from Hong Kong,
1O years ago.
I didn't ask him
if he has come by phoney passport.
But I can tell, he's all along been
killing people for the boss.
I don't understand, he's made his money.
Why not take off now.
The girl you saw in my room is also here.
Did I ever tell you,
I was once at the Kowloon flower market.
I ran into 2 illegal immigrants from China,
one man and one woman.
They were being arrested.
Even since then,
I knew very clearly that she's like me.
She'll spend all her life running
I miss the boy at the refugee camp.
I wonder how he is doing.
If you have time, please go and see him.
He really won't do it? You need to be angry.
Those old Chinese are all miser, let them be.
Let them be.
Please sit down.
Do you know what Wu Vuet is doing for me?
You must have guessed it.
Yes!
Wu Viet is not working for me here.
He is working for you.
He wants to make enough money
so that he can take you out of Philippines.
He kills people because of you.
And killing once is not enough.
And what are you willing to do for Wu Viet?
I will do anything.
Next time I'll cook you your favorite dishes.
Where?
No, not here, I'll have to find another house.
With a smell kitchen inside.
Then I'll be able to cook you some nice food.
You can cook? How come I never knew?
There are lots of thing that you didn't know.
Don't tell me now,
wait till I'm 70 or 80, then let me know.
Are you going out again?
Yes, Mr. Chung wants to see me.
Go to sleep, don't wait up for me.
What's the matter?
This is your money.
Use it to get a passport.
No...one thing at a time.
How many more things are there?
It's like this, we're waiting for someone
to pay us some ransom money.
You go and kidnap him as well,
this is what I want you to do.
I don't trust anyone from outside.
I'm not forcing you.
Firstly, your time to leave is not ripe yet.
Secondly, I want you to save up more money.
Mr. Chung, I want to talk to you.
I am leaving.
You don't have to go,
I'm not afraid to losing face in front of you.
Mr. Chung, I've never done a kidnap job before.
We are short of men right now.
Are you worried that
I might not do a clean job?
Stop kidding, we've co-operated for so long.
I've never given you any trouble.
You've done everything alone.
Didn't you say you wanted to go back
to Hong Kong to live?
This man is very rich.
Have I ever lied to you?
Help!
Help!
Help!
Help! Help!
I can take it...
I'm just worried that I might be careless.
I'm useless, I'm too old to be useful anymore.
Especially you, even if you're dead,
there's no way of finding out.
Do we have any solution?
It's best that you don't stay here anymore.
I can help you if you want to leave.
What about Shum Ching?
That could be difficult.
They won"! Pa)'-
There's no money in the trunk?
No, what's in the trunk is for the kid.
His family won't pay his ransom money.
This is not difficult, first,
let us buy a fishing junk.
Then tell the fisherman
to let you know so soon as they are refugees.
Then we'll immediately go out to sea.
We'll pretend we're refugees.
The other thing is easy.
Will there be any danger?
No
Betan Island is very far from Manila.
Why won't you 9O?
Go where?
From this part of Chinatown to another?
Do you know how many times
I've thought of women in a year?
Nil?
Nil!
Not even once? I don't believe it!
Except my mother, but she is died already.
You should go, if you stay here like me,
you'll be like me
and not even think about women.
The two jobs we had done,
the President had
ordered thorough investigation.
The police were
hard pressed to produce the criminal,
and if they can't,
our Chinatown will never have one day of peace.
Well, will you hand over the people?
I said no, they said they
didn't want to arrest anyone.
They said they only wanted to give
the President some sort of answer.
What do you plan to do?
Are you prepared to help me out?
I had thought of a plan,
and everyone will be happy.
You can all leave here and I get my job done.
I'll pretend that
I'll give you up to the police,
and you'll go to a restaurant
to talk to the police.
Men will be outside preparing to shoot you.
When you go into the restaurant,
they will search you
just in case you carry any firearm.
But once you're inside,
you'll pretend that you'll go to the toilet.
A gun will be there behind the toilet.
You'll hold the policeman hostage and leave.
That crop will be one of my men,
he's a good actor.
Our car will be waiting for you
at the road junction.
Ask Shum Ching to wait for you in the car.
You'll take the police officer
and drive directly to the pier.
Then you'll take a boat to Malaysia.
When the Minister ask me about it,
I'll say I'd handed you over.
Not being able to kill you is not my fault.
We'll push him out of our car on route.
Then we go to our pier.
There's no ammunition in the gun.
There's no back door here!
Hold on to this piece of glass.
Shum Ching!
Lie down!
Wu Viet, Ah Sarm, get on the car!
Shum Ching!
Shum Ching!
Heh, yes...l am...
Alright, we'll nail everything on this one.
We'll take the dead one back
to relieve ourselves of duties.
We'll go back to Chinatown in a few days
to pay last respect to that constable.
Good-bye!
My tooth is blooding again!
Lap Quan, I am Wu Viet.
Me and my partner, and that girl also
are leaving the Philippines tomorrow,
and go to Batan Island as refugees.
My partner didn't want to leave originally.
He said he'll drink himself to death
in the Chinatown of Philippine.
But he has no alternative but to leave.
He wanted to drink himself
to death in Chinatown of the U.S.A.
The girl is a lot more optimistic than us.
She believes that
we'll go to the U.S.A someday.
We'll settle down once and for all.
She had planned
on buying a house for ourselves.
With our own private kitchen.
She'll cook Vietnamese food for us.
We've also decided that in the U.S.A,
we'll bring over the kid
from the refugee camp in Hong Kong,
we'll adopt him.
I will reply on these hope,
to complete my journey.