'POV': A Long Island adoption from China

Leading up to National Adoption Month in November, "POV" has a series of documentaries about how adoptees maintain their racial and national identity in a new homeland - and in Tuesday night's inaugural film, produced and directed by Stephanie Wang-Breal, the new homeland for Fang Sui Yong is Long Island.

Donna, 46, and Jeff Sadowsky, 55, have two biological children, Jason, now 18, and Jared, 15, plus Darah, 6, who was adopted from China as a toddler.

The film begins three years ago, when they decide to adopt another girl, and so another trip to China - which opened its borders to international adoption in 1992 - is arranged. With Wang-Beal along as their trusted Boswell and (eventually) translator, Donna and her father arrive in a large city orphanage where they meet Fang Sui, whom Donna names Faith. Faith is shy though hardly withdrawn.

The bonding process is complicated by language barriers. Those fall as the film progresses, until Faith, now 11, largely forgets her native tongue. Then, the tough questions come: Who am I? Why did you get a girl from China?

MY SAY

There's much to admire in "Wo Ai Ni," beginning with the Sadowskys, who seem like exemplary parents and probably are. While this film is about Faith, you'll also find yourself wondering about them, too. Who are they and why undergo the considerable financial and emotional stress in bringing this stranger - beguiling and wonderful as she is - into their home? Donna speaks of "filling" a need, and Jeff almost struggles to articulate his feelings.

In the end, there is effectively only half a portrait here. The Sadowskys are hard to get to know (Donna is a stay-at-home mom and chair of the educational committee of the Long Island chapter of Families With Children From China), leaving some guesswork about their motivation up to viewers. As a result, you only sporadically feel their journey's emotional power.

GRADE

B