Themes: Political Unrest, Love Triangles, Americans Abroad
Main Cast: Michael Caine, Brendan Fraser, Do Hai Yen, Rade Serbedzija
Release Year: 2002
Country: AU/US
Run Time: 101 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Graham Greene's allegorical novel about America's role in the Vietnam conflict, and how it was perceived by the rest of the world, is brought to the screen for the second time in this adaptation directed by Phillip Noyce. Thomas Fowler (Michael Caine) is a British journalist who in 1952 is covering the early stages of the war in Indo-China for the London Times, not a demanding assignment since few in England are especially interested in the conflict. When not filing occasional reports, Fowler spends his time with Phuong (Do Thi Hai Yen), a beautiful woman who shares lovemaking and opium with Fowler and is willing to accept the fact the married journalist will never make her his wife. Fowler becomes friendly with Alden Pyle (Brendan Fraser), a cheerful and articulate if seemingly naïve American who is in Saigon as part of a medical mission. As Fowler and Pyle develop a closer friendship, Pyle is introduced to Phuong, and the American soon becomes infatuated with her. When Fowler's editors suggest he return to London, he responds by digging himself deeper in covering the war, and Pyle attempts to take Phuong away; she soon rejects him. Undaunted, Pyle continues with his work, but Fowler discovers that medical help is not what the American is bringing to Vietnam. Pyle is in fact a CIA operative who is helping to organize and finance a "Third Force" who will battle Ho Chi Min's forces as well as the French and their allies. Fowler also learns that Pyle is behind a series of bombings which are believed to have been carried out by Communist extremists, and faces the ugly fact that his American friend is in fact a terrorist killing in the name of Uncle Sam's political interests. While completed in the fall of 2001, The Quiet American went unreleased until late 2002; after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the film's producers felt the film's critical view of America's role in the Vietnam war might be considered especially offensive. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
The Quiet American could be considered both a murder mystery and a political thriller. But its main emphasis isn't on clever plot twists or nail-biting suspense, although it does offer danger and intrigue. Instead, this deliberately paced and intelligently scripted film places its main emphasis on how the personal and the political intersect in the lives of the main characters. Michael Caine gives a nuanced, affecting performance in the lead role as world-weary British journalist Thomas Fowler. Caine is very effective at conveying how Fowler is torn between his cynicism and his nobler values as he struggles with difficult decisions and motives that aren't always pure. Brendan Fraser does a generally good job with his role as the American Alden Pyle; his measured performance could be more layered, but he does manage to suggest that there is more to this character than immediately meets the eye. Unfortunately, the film loses some of its emotional impact because the friendship between Fowler and Pyle doesn't seem quite as intense as the story demands. This problem is exacerbated by Do Thi Hai Yen's inability to do much with her underwritten role as Phuong, the woman in the middle of the love triangle; often she seems less like a full-fledged character than a depersonalized object of affection and symbol of Vietnam. Indeed, Pham Thi Mai Hoa makes a stronger impression than Do Thi Hai Yen in a smaller role as Phuong's sister. Nonetheless, the sumptuous cinematography and Caine's impressive performance are riveting enough to carry the film through its occasional rough spots. ~ Todd Kristel, All Movie Guide
Jeff Thorp - Art Director, Ian Gracie - Supervising Art Director, Steve Andrews - Associate Producer, Christine King - Casting, Eyal Rimmon - Co-producer, Kathleen McLaughlin - Co-producer, Roland Loubet - Co-producer, Norma Moriceau - Costume Designer, Phillip Noyce - Director, Dang Nhat Minh - Second Unit Director, John Scott - Editor, Moritz Borman - Executive Producer, Anthony Minghella - Executive Producer, Sydney Pollack - Executive Producer, Chris Sievernich - Executive Producer, Nigel Sinclair - Executive Producer, Guy East - Executive Producer, Craig Armstrong - Composer (Music Score), Roger Ford - Production Designer, Christopher Doyle - Cinematographer, Staffan Ahrenberg - Producer, William Horberg - Producer, Kerrie Brown - Set Designer, Guntis Sics - Sound/Sound Designer, Robert Schenkkan - Screenwriter, Christopher Hampton - Screenwriter, Brad Shield - Additional Cinematography, Antony Gray - Supervising Sound Editor, Animal Logic Film - Visual Effects, Graham Greene - Book Author
The 2002 version of The Quiet American, in contrast to the 1958 version, depicted Greene's original ending and treatment of the principal American character, Pyle. Like the novel, the film illustrates Pyle's moral culpability in fostering intrigue within the South Vietnamese government. Going beyond Greene's original work, the film used a montage ending with superimposed images of American soldiers from the intervening decades of the Vietnam War.
Miramax had paid $5.5 million for the rights to distribute the film in North America and some other territories[1], and this film went on grossing US $12.9 million in limited theatrical release in the United States. Michael Caine was nominated for the Oscar as Best Actor.
Set in the early 1950s in Saigon, Vietnam, during the end of the First Indochina War, on one level The Quiet American is a love story about the triangle that develops between a British journalist in his fifties, a young American idealist and a Vietnamese girl, but on another level it is also about the political turmoil and growing American involvement that led to the Vietnam War.
Fowler, who narrates the story, is involved in the war only as an observer, apart from one crucial instant. Pyle, who represents America and its policies in Vietnam, is a CIA operative sent to steer the war according to America’s interests, and is passionately devoted to the ideas of York Harding, an American foreign policy theorist who said that what Vietnam needed was a “third player” to take the place of both the colonialists and the Vietnamese rebels and restore order. This third player was plainly meant to be America, and so Pyle sets about creating a “Third Force” against the Viet Minh by using a Vietnamese splinter group headed by corrupt militia leader General Thé (based on the actual Trinh Minh The). His arming of Thé's militia with American weaponry leads to a series of terrorist bombings in Saigon. These bombings, dishonestly blamed on the Communists in order to further American outrage, kill a number of innocent people, including women and children.
Meanwhile, Pyle has stolen Fowler’s Vietnamese mistress Phuong, promising her marriage and security. When Fowler finds out about Pyle's involvement in the bombings, he takes one definitive action to seal all of their fates. He indirectly agrees to let his assistant, Hinh, and his Communist cohorts confront Pyle; when Pyle tries to flee, Hinh fatally stabs him. Phuong subsequently returns to Fowler, and while the local French police commander suspects Fowler's role in Pyle's murder, he has no evidence and does not pursue the matter.
The film ends with a series of newspaper articles looking into the future. Below a headline from 1954 is imposed the famous image of General Nguyễn Ngọc Loan executing a Viet Cong prisoner. This occurred in 1968.
In the DVD documentary, actor Brendan Fraser states, "In many ways, Alden Pyle is the first Cold War warrior."
In the DVD documentary, executive producer Sydney Pollack states, "This is a country, that you hear an explosion, it's not usually a movie. It's usually a war."
