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Volume 13, Issue #3. Published on February 28, 2005
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Cambodian Collegiate Asscociation Presents:
A.K.A DON BONUS
A Cambodian teenager struggles to find his place in a upsidedown world.
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Harim Martinez
Asian Pacific Review
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At this year's Amerasia Week the student run Cambodian Collegiate Association of CSU, Fresno will be presenting the film, A.K.A. Don Bonus.
This Emmy winning work is the story of an 18-year-old Cambodian refugee Sokly “Don Bonus” Ny.
Ny has been struggling to graduate in his final year of high school in the San Francisco Bay Area. Living in the Sunnydale housing projects.
He spends an hour commuting to school everyday. Each day after school, he returns to an empty house and a broken home.
His younger brother has not been seen for nearly three months. Ny suspects he has fallen into the clutches of a neighborhood gang.
Their mother, since her divorce, neglects her family by prefering to spend all her time with her new boyfriend.
Ny and his relatives, who just happen to live next door, are seriously affected by the crime infested world of their neighborhood.
The family quickly learns they cannot even depend on an apathetic police. Who respond many hours after a rock is thrown through their living room window. Then, only leisurely patrol the area.
Eventually, the family is robbed of everything-from furniture to clothes, sadly even a tiny bottle of soy sauce.
Ny's helplessness evolves into anxiety and frustration when he keeps calling the police to report the burglary.
However, his pleas are only greeted by the warmness only a answering machine can give.
Through the hardships and loneliness, Ny focuses himself on graduating from high school. Ultimately, he successfully passes his competency tests.
However, in the moment of candor admits that he does not feel he deserves the honors he worked hard for.
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