''The Betrayal — Nerakhoon'' is a 2008

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

directed by

Ellen Kuras Ellen Kuras (born July 10, 1959) is an American cinematographer whose body of work includes narrative and documentary films, music videos and commercials in both the studio and independent worlds. One of few female members of the American Socie ...

and Thavisouk Phrasavath.

Synopsis

It is about an immigrant from

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist s ...

living in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The film centres on the family's flight from Laos after the United States Secret War in Laos and the difficulty of assimilating into American life. Cultural obstacles encountered are presented through the medium of the break-up of the narrators' family, culminating in the death of a family member linked to gang warfare. In the

Lao language Lao, sometimes referred to as Laotian (, 'Lao' or , 'Lao language'), is a Kra–Dai language of the Lao people. It is spoken in Laos, where it is the official language for around 7 million people, as well as in northeast Thailand, where ...

, "nerakhoon" () translates to "ingratitude" or "betrayal".

Reception

Critical response

''The Betrayal'' has an approval rating of 93% on

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, based on 30 reviews, and an average rating of 7.63/10. It also has a score of 78 out of 100 on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, based on 10 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Film Festivals and Accolades

The Betrayal won the Spectrum Award at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival (2008), and screened within such festivals as

Maryland Film Festival The Maryland Film Festival is an annual five-day international film festival taking place each May in Baltimore, Maryland. The festival was launched in 1999, and presents international film and video work of all lengths and genres. The festival ...

. In 2009, ''The Betrayal – Nerakhoon'' was Nominated for an Oscar at the

81st Academy Awards The 81st Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2008 and took place on February 22, 2009, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 ...

for Best Documentary Features. Also in 2009, The Betrayal was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. It was shown in the Documentary Competition at the

2008 Sundance Film Festival The 2008 Sundance Film Festival ran from January 17, 2008 to January 27 in Park City, Utah. It was the 24th iteration of the Sundance Film Festival. The opening night film was '' In Bruges'' and the closing night film was '' CSNY Déjà Vu''. Fil ...

. ''The Betrayal – Nerakhoon'' won the 2010 Creative Arts

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...

for Exceptional Merit in Nonfiction Filmmaking. It also won Student Doc Award at

Sheffield Doc/Fest Sheffield DocFest (formerly styled Sheffield Doc/Fest), short for Sheffield International Documentary Festival (SIDF), is an international documentary festival and Marketplace held annually in Sheffield, England. The Festival includes film s ...

in 2012.

Release

The film was released on home video by

The Cinema Guild The Cinema Guild Inc. is a film distribution company. It was established by Philip and Mary-Ann Hobel, producers known for their work in documentaries and features, including the film '' Tender Mercies''. Since 1968, the Cinema Guild has been ...

References

External links

* 2008 films Documentary films about Asian Americans 2008 documentary films American independent films Lao-language films Documentary films about immigration to the United States Documentary films about families 2008 directorial debut films 2008 independent films Films scored by Howard Shore Primetime Emmy Award-winning broadcasts 2000s English-language films 2000s American films {{bio-documentary-film-stub