This movie is also called "Dust of life" in English and was made by Alex Bouchareb in 1994.
In 1975, 3 kids decide to escape a reeducation camp in the Vietnamese equatorial forest near Cambodia where the Amerasians are imprisoned, tortured both mentally and physically. Son, the hero is sent in that camp after her mother fails to find his father to send him away to America.
Search the web for the title to find more information. You can find the poster of the movie on cineposters dot com.
Kind of reminds me of Papillon or the Killing Fields though maybe a notch down in terms of realization... This movie is based on facts from the after war.
Mike Lambert, unemployed mining engineer, arrives in a small town with a bang when the brakes fail on the truck he's driving. After meeting seductive Paula at the La Paloma Cafe, he finds himself in trouble with the law. On the basis of a few burning glances, Paula pays his fine and finds him a room, but her motives are not what they seem. Mike lucks into a job with miner Jeff Cunningham, but against his will he's drawn ever deeper into Paula's scheme
Iris, seize ans, vit la fin de son adolescence dans une petite ville de province lorsqu'elle rencontre par hasard Jean, un photographe parisien d'une quarantaine d'années. Au fil des rendez-vous, leur relation se transforme en une amitié amoureuse qui bouleverse leurs vies.
Mary, a poor farm girl, meets Tim just as word comes that war has been declared. Tim enlists in the army and goes to the battlefields of Europe, where he is wounded and loses the use of his legs. Home again, Tim is visited by Mary, and they are powerfully attracted to each other but his physical handicap prevents him from declaring his love for her. Deeper complications set in when Martin, Tim's former sergeant and a bully, takes a shine to Mary.
Beautiful half-breed Pearl Chavez becomes the ward of her dead father's first love and finds herself torn between her sons, one good and the other bad.
This is story about a dentist with the talent of painlessly extracting teeth, and what happens to him as a result of being naturally good at his job. It is told with humour (much of it quite subtle, almost surreal, and in the background - imagine a street scene where everyone on the sidewalk on one side of the road walks in just one direction, and on the other side in the other), poignancy, and a frequent breaking of the 4th wall between the movie and the audience (think of what happens in Shakespeare's plays, and you'll be close). It also features some songs by Novella Matveyeva, a famous Russian singer-songwriter (her songs are sung by the leading actress).