Rating: NR | Runtime: 100 minutes
Release Date: November 18th, 2022 (USA)
Studio: IFC Films
Director(s): David Siev

If this community turns against us then our whole lives can be wiped away.

In the midst of unprecedented times at the beginning of the COVID pandemic, David Siev decided to leave New York and move back home to Bad Axe, MI to quarantine with his family and help with/document their struggle to keep their restaurant afloat amidst lockdown.

While that in and of itself would be enough to deliver a captivating example of against-all-odds storytelling, there’s more to this particular family’s American Dream since they aren’t your generic white Midwesterners plugging along. David’s father Chun, along with his six siblings and their mother, was a survivor of the Cambodian Killing Fields who settled in America, started his own family, and built a business with his wife Rachel to cement themselves in the community for the long haul.

Bad Axe therefore documents more than just the pandemic. It goes back much further to show audiences how the Sievs got where they are today in order to better contextualize how far the country in which they live has failed them and so many others since. That’s not to say David has created an agenda film, though.

He may actually go too far in ensuring that viewers know he knows it’s not “all white people” who are racist. He doesn’t need to speak in generalities to showcase just how vocal and destructive those who are prove anyway. They do that all by themselves via threatening posturing, letters, and emboldened hate upon discovering the Siev family “dared” to support a BLM march in 2020.

David’s “love letter” to his hometown—a description that the family is quick to question considering said hometown won’t agree—quickly turns into a proud showcase of perseverance, strength, and empathy on behalf of his parents, sisters (Jaclyn, Raquel, and Michelle), and their significant others. The lockdown forces them to have many heart-to-hearts about the present and the future as Chun and Rachel organically look to pass the reins to the next generation.

That shift in responsibility, however, also demands a shift in ethos. Because while the elder Sievs understand the growing political tensions surrounding them in Bad Axe, they were raised to stay silent. Be “good” immigrants. Work hard. Don’t rock the boat.

The film therefore also becomes an instructional look at assimilation, racism, and the increasing need to fight back as a matter of pride and identity despite the risk. It’s something I can relate to being the child of staunchly conservative parents whose families assimilated so hard that enjoying the benefits of living most of their lives as “white passing” pre-9/11 has them believing they are white.

Some of it’s fear-based (blind patriotism aside, there was always more to the “joke” of my father getting an American flag tattoo to deflect from his Arab complexion), but it’s also about lived experiences and indoctrination. As Jaclyn’s husband Mike states, white people dismiss oppression because they’ve never had the displeasure of truly living it from the other side (despite what Tucker Carlson tells them every night).

It’s an education by fire once Jaclyn spearheads the family’s involvement (against Chun’s wishes) with an employee’s BLM protest and David puts an investment trailer for this film online with footage from that event. The backlash is immediate and they all must attack it head-on as minorities in Trump country, some being non-residents (Jaclyn and David don’t live in Bad Axe despite moving back during the pandemic), and all financially needing the restaurant to survive.

Stress and frustration constantly boil over as altercations with customers, neo-Nazis, and each other trigger intensely emotional responses. The whole proves an unforgettable indictment on the US political machine fanning flames of hate and a personal, inspirational story of fighting back—with words, actions, and a refusal to let anyone pretend the Sievs don’t deserve to call this flawed town home.

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A scene from David Siev’s BAD AXE. Courtesy of IFC Films. An IFC Films Release.