On April 30, 1975, a North Vietnamese tank crashed through the gates of the presidential palace in Saigon, signaling the end of the brutal American War and the beginning of a new era independent of Western regimes.

More than 40 years later, “Charlie Surfs on Lotus Flowers” portrays post-war Vietnam through a sequence of metaphorical responses to its current Hollywood-esque limbo—caught between the rise of a free-market economy and a single Communist Party that has held unchallenged power since the end of the war, dashing hopes for a free and democratic country. History repeats itself, with its eyes turned toward the West.

Indeed, according to the Pew Global Poll, 95% of people in Vietnam agree that most people are better off under capitalism, even if inequality exists.

Home to a young, dynamic population, the country is poised to become one of the world’s fastest-growing economies—the next Asian Tiger—still ruled by unquestioned order and control, yet eager to ride the wave of economic freedom.