Bui Doi: Life Like Dust

Tuong lai la nha tu (The future is prison)
Hien tai la chem giet (The present is killing)
Qua khu la han thu (The past is hatred)

Bui Doi (Dust Life) is a short documentary about Ricky Phan, a young Vietnamese kid, who came to California when he was 13 and became involved with the Vietnamese gang. The film takes viewers through the lifestyle of Bui Doi which includes smoke, drink, party, sex, rob, fight, etc.

It was extremely hard for young foreign kids to deal with pressure at school. We did not speak English. We were being discriminated and hated by White, Black, Spanish and even other Asian kids who were born in the US. That what I hate the most, your own race acted like they don’t even fucking know you. They were too busy playing their White friends and too good to be your friends. These fucking Bananas (yellow outiside, white inside) must be saying to their White friends, “I don’t know that fucking immigrant.” These kind of pressures made kids like Ricky Phan to bond and form a gang. They can speak their own language and no one else fuck with them.

The film did a good job of portraying the real life of the Vietnamese gangs, however; the title is misleading. It should be Du Dang (gangster) instead. Bui Doi refers to people in Viet Nam who have no home. That’s why they live a life like dust. In the documentary, they refer themselves as Bui Doi. Yet, they live in a big ass house with cars and plenty of food and beer. That’s not a dust life. That’s a gangster life. So get it right. Damn it.