Be Good, Smile Pretty Directed by Tracy Droz Tragos, 2003

[A] wrenching and enlightening journey" - The Los Angeles Times

A powerfully moving, personal exploration of a 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 come to remember her father’s life in their own way. Along the way, 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 too difficult to bear, it is ultimately the truth that allows her, and her entire family, to understand and move forward.