Trinh Nhoc is 90 years old. He rather sweetly describes himself (in French) as a “un bon cordonnier vietnamien” — a good shoemaker from Vietnam.
In 1970, the coup happened in Cambodia. That first night, I remember Cambodian soldiers knocking on the door of my shop.
They knocked for five minutes. That night they arrested many of my friends — and after that, they all died. They all died.
And that’s why I had to go back to Vietnam. It was very difficult for me, because I left everything in Cambodia. The leather, the materials, the customers, the machines.
I thought my career was over. But deep in my heart, the shoes were still there.
From Netflix “Stories of a generation — with Pope Francis”: “Episode 4: Work”, starting at 15:23.
At around 30 minutes, we see a customer arriving to collect the shoes he has ordered. The customer is clearly pleased. The camera catches Mr Ngoc’s face as he looks past the cameraman with such a pride that it should better be said as joy.