First, I want to say, I am not an adoptive parent, nor am I adopted myself. I have met someone who has adopted a girl from China, and am aware of the issues that the one child rule raises for girls in China.
Before this I saw a documentary, "National Geographic: China's Lost Girls" which I think is a great film to start with for understanding the situation, before you become so involved in these personal stories.
I don't believe only a certain type of person can enjoy this film, but I can see how it would help. I personally prefer dramatic social documentaries instead of fictional dramas, because I feel like I am really getting to know someone and what they have been through. When I cry, I am not crying because of a plausible emotional situation, but I am crying tears for another person.
This film is incredibly moving. You hear what it is like to be an American, raised by white parents as a Chinese born girl. You get to hear some of their tales of facing racism, and feeling like an outsider, as well as how glad they are to have the loving family and opportunities they have as middle class adopted Americans.
You get to see one disabled girl get an opportunity to be adopted, as well as the filmmaker's video of when they adopted their daughter. You can see how terrifying it is to be a Chinese girl handed over to white parents, while at the same time seeing how much love these parents have for their new little girls.
One girl wished to find her birth family, and was lucky enough to do so. It is an extremely moving situation when you get a glimpse of how much her birth family truly loves her.
This film raises questions that all adopted people have to ask themselves, about whether they want to learn their heritage and what that means to them. Certainly, everyone has to choose their own path and what is important to them in life.
This film encapsulates what it is to be an American to me. It doesn't matter what you look like, or your language or where you were born. It matters that either you or your family or whomever made a choice for you to be a part of a culture that has no rules or boundaries. Where we embrace our similarities and differences as people of this world. It's truly a beautiful idea, this nation, where we can come together and see where we came from and know wherever we go, we take this journey together.