Tribeca Review: Golden Venture

In the film's first ten minutes, there is an epic story of smugglers, mutiny, gang violence, a dangerous global sea voyage, a rescue by the Coast Guard, and the imprisonment of almost 300 "bad guys". No, this isn't a new action blockbuster out of Hollywood. It is a documentary called Golden Venture, and it is a damn near perfect one.

On June 6, 1993, the coastal freighter Golden Venture ran aground in New York City with the largest shipment of illegal aliens ever recorded. The 286 Chinese expatriates (minus 10 who died and 6 who escaped), who were part of a usually routine operation handled by immigrant runners called "snakeheads" and the Chinatown gang Fuk Ching, had the misfortune of being caught too soon after the World Trade Center bombing. They were all made an example of, and many were detained for over four years.

Narrated by Tim Robbins and directed by Peter Cohn, Golden Venture is a marvel of composition, a grand comprisal of human interest stories combined with history, politics, law, and folk art in a story that spans over ten years. The film focuses on a number of issues and ideas, but specifically follows four of the ship's passengers in their present lives, including one who is now back in China and another who remains anonymous to avoid deportation, as well as a lawyer and a paralegal who aided in their eventual release from prison and remain helpful in their experiences with the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service).

While accomplished for its extensive scope and copious encompassment, Golden Venture is bound together with a fortuitous, overlaying theme of population control. The refugees become stuck between two very different authorities sharing a common fear of national overcrowding. They flee China because of coercive birth control laws that often result in imposed abortion and sterilization. Now they arrive in America, jumping ship just miles away from the Statue of Liberty, and are denied citizenship other than as inhabitants of the York County jail in Pennsylvania. While detained, the immigrants gain the support of both pro-lifers, who see the wrong in mandatory contraception and feticide, and pro-choicers, who protest the lack of freedom in such mandating. Additionally they had fans in the right-wing because of anti-communism and in the left-wing because of the injustice by our own government. For such unification the passengers of the Golden Venture should be eligible for the Nobel peace prize.

Golden Venture is a documentary that is despairing and at the same time is hopeful; it informs and also inquires, leaving viewers with so much to ponder that finding a starting point for discussion is difficult. It is a film that requires setting aside not only the time to see it, but also a few hours afterward to think about it.