ReelBob: Bad Axe
An immigrant struggles to keep their restaurant open during COVID while facing prejudice and lingering scars in a small Michigan town.
Filmmaker David Siev’s intimate documentary, “Bad Axe,” is a love letter to his family, the immigrant experience and his Michigan hometown.
His movie that does not shy away from revealing his family’s warts and the prejudices of Bad Axe.
Siev returned to Bad Axe at the beginning of 2020 to chronicle his family’s efforts to keep their restaurant and American dream alive while dealing with adversity — the COVID-19 pandemic and all its challenges, Neo-Nazis in rural Michigan and his father’s PTSD mental scars from fleeing the killing fields of Cambodia.
It’s a lot to unpack, but Siev does so in an objective manner, unflinchingly showing the generational arguments common to most families.
The efforts to keep the family restaurant, Rachel’s of Bad Axe, open is the main focus. The Sievs have run the restaurant for several years. It originally was a doughnut that was later expanded in a popular dining spot in the town.
Siev’s parents, father Chun — whose trauma becomes more and more evident as the movie progress — and Rachel, a Mexican-American, work diligently to keep the restaurant afloat and to protect themselves from becoming pandemic statistics.
The Sievs are a tightknit family. Their daughter, Jaclyn, takes over running the Rachel’s so her parents can stay home as much as possible. Her younger sister, Raquel, a college student heading toward graduation, also helps out. David films her taking classes via Zoom.
David’s camera captures the small-town aspects of Bad Axe — the good and the bad. It is a conservative region dotted by Trump signs and flags.
And the bigotry silently condoned by the then-president allows some of the town’s more bigoted elements to spew their bile, with the Sievs as their target.
Parallel lines of tension grow as Chun and Rachel, concerned for their children’s safety, constantly warn them about being too vocal about issues — social and political.
They worry when the younger Sievs attend a Black Lives Matter rally after the death of George Floyd and confront a small group of armed and masked Neo-Nazi counter-demonstrators.
As Rachel’s slowly reopens, the Sievs — who as safety precautions still require customers to wear masks — must deal with people who object.
“Bad Axe” covers a lot of issues, but at the core of the movie is the Sievs. Their long journey to fulfill their version of the American Dream is sometimes bumpy, but their determination and love — for each other and their adopted home — is touching and inspirational.
I am a founding member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. I review movies, 4K UHD, Blu-rays and DVDs for ReelBob (ReelBob.com), The Film Yap and other print and online publications. I can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com. You also can follow me on Twitter @ReelBobBloom and on Facebook at ReelBob.com or the Indiana Film Journalists Association. My movie reviews also can be found at Rotten Tomatoes: www.rottentomatoes.com.