The documentary Daughter from Danang takes a poignant look at the life of Heidi, a young Amerasian woman from Tennessee.

At first glance, Heidi's Asian ancestry is not obvious, and her strong Tennessee twang is sure to throw you. But as her story unfolds we learn that Heidi was born in Vietnam in 1968 to a Vietnamese mother and American father.

As you might have guessed, Heidi - who was then known as Hiep - is the illegitimate daughter of an American soldier. She has never met her father - he left Vietnam when Hiep's mother was four months pregnant - and does not appear to know his name.

The documentary opens to haunting images of children being taken from their mothers and loaded on to large jets - one of which crashed, killing scores of young American-Vietnamese - as part of an American initiative to take Amerasian children to the US.

Heidi's life in America, although more privileged in a material sense than her early years in Vietnam, is fraught with heartache. Her adopted mother is cold and occasionally beats her and ultimately, with Heidi then a college sophomore, severs all ties after she is five minutes late for a curfew.

Several years later she writes to a Government agency to try and find her birth mother. She is put in contact with a Vietnamese journalist, Tan Tuong Nu, living in the US who had a letter - through a friend - from Heidi's mother.

Plans are made for Heidi (Hiep) to fly with Ms Nu to Vietnam and she is reunited with her family.

This is where the documentary - and filmmakers Gail Dolgin and Vicente Franco really shine. But it is not because of warm, fuzzy scenes of a family reunited. There is that, initially, and it is enough to bring you to tears.

The filmmakers are to be applauded for the in-your-face portrayal of the heavy emotional content and ultimately discord that developed in this real-life situation.

Heidi, in her own words, is completely American. Her trip to Vietnam, and being reunited with a family that speaks another tongue, is a major culture shock for her.

She has no concept of the Vietnamese way of life: the food is too spicy, she is appalled that they "just cook on the street", the temperature is too hot, her mother is cloying...

The last straw comes when her family - including two sisters and a brother - asks her to either take their mother to the US, or to send money monthly.