They Chose China (review)

The American soldier, who is taken P.O.W., survives captivity and returns home currently holds the status of "hero" in American society, as the media attention surrounding the capture and rescue of Jessica Lynch during the Iraq War demonstrated. The image of POW-as-hero can be traced to the Vietnam War. Released POWs who had survived years of torture in captivity in North Vietnam returned to the U.S. not with their spirits broken or even a sense of cynicism, as one might logically expect, but with their patriotism fully intact and their belief in the American cause in Vietnam unshaken. Historians such as Elliot Gruner and Howard Zinn have remarked on the special status accorded to Vietnam War POWs: they were the heroes America needed in a story of defeat. Many of the ex-POWs, such as John McCain and James Stockdale, rose to prominent positions in American society, aided no doubt by their status as POW- heroes.

Captivity narratives have been popular in American culture since the colonial period, and a key element in the captivity tale is that of redemption: the eventual happy return of the captive to his or her own culture and way of life. The story fails when there is an unredeemed captive: one who chooses, of his or her own accord, to remain with the captors, preferring a foreign lifestyle and ideology. Accordingly, many Americans were shocked when, at the conclusion of the Korean War and in the midst of the tensions of the Cold War, 21 Americans who had been taken prisoner by the Chinese chose to remain in Communist China. In an attempt to explain this unexpected twist in the captivity story, a theory soon evolved that these men surely must have been brainwashed by their Communist captors. The brainwashing theory even appeared repeatedly in post-war films, such as Prisoner of War (1954), The Rack (1956), and The Manchurian Candidate (1962). The military reacted quickly as well. As a direct result of the Korean War experience, POW training for members of the U.S. armed forces was increased, and a written "Code of Conduct" for American POWs was established. The Code consists of six points, with the sixth one virtually forbidding any thoughts of a shift of allegiance: "I will never forget that I am an American, fighting for freedom, responsible for my actions, and dedicated to the principles which made my country free. I will trust in God and the United States of America." John McCain attributed his survival in no small part to his adherence to the POW Code of Conduct.

Shuibo Wang, as a boy growing up in China, saw an American man bicycling by and was surprised to learn that this man was a former POW who had refused repatriation after the Korean War. This prize-winning documentary is the result of the filmmaker's continuing curiosity about this American-turned-Chinese-resident and his attempts to find any of these men who are still living in order to document their reasons for choosing China and to have them reflect, in retrospect, on their decision.

Included are clips of the original press conferences in which the ex-POWs first publicly announced their decision and their reasons for making this seemingly drastic choice. Most of them cite racism and McCarthyism in the U.S., as well as the humane treatment afforded to them by their Chinese captors, as influencing their decision. Interesting, but what did these men have to say years later? In contemporary interviews with some of the survivors, and with the widows and children of some of those now deceased, the filmmaker provides much insight into the appeal of China for these men, the advantages their new lives offered them as well as some of the challenges, and also the hardships those who eventually moved back to the U.S. encountered there. Particularly valuable are the contemporary interviews with former POW camp officers, instructors, and translators, that offer a rare glimpse of the captors' view of the Americans and how they fit into Chinese society.

The clips used in the documentary, period as well...