BE GOOD, SMILE PRETTY

A daughter's journey to know her father... thirty years after his death in Vietnam

A powerfully moving, personal exploration of her grief for the father she never knew, this award winning film chronicles Tracy Droz Tragos’ heart wrenching journey to understand and cope with a loss shared by the estimated 20,000 Americans whose fathers were killed in Vietnam.

Weaving emotionally compelling interviews with home movies, stock footage and family photos, Tragos travels from Selma, Alabama, to the U.S. Senate in search of her father’s Naval Academy roommates and war buddies, each of whom has been silently mourning his death and remembers her father’s life in his own way.

Along her journey, Tragos uncovers a 30-year-old mystery, as she comes to know her father as a man, untangled from the memory of a war that wounded a nation And while some discoveries are almost to difficult to bear, it is ultimately the truth that allows her, and her entire family, to understand and move forward.

“Be Good, Smile Pretty is simultaneously a woman’s search for her father and a powerful statement against war. One cannot watch it without wishing that Tracy Trago’s quest had never been necessary, and that all the young men who go off to war would come home to little girls who wait” – The Los Angeles Times

Release year:

2004

Director:

Tracy Droz Tragos

Running length:

56 minutes

Production company:

Ophans of War Foundation & Kansas City Public Television

Prizes:

Emmy Winner 2004 - BEST DOCUMENTARY Los Angeles Film Festival - BEST DOCUMENTARY

 

Categories:

• People & Culture