The Quiet American on DVD |
This great film was slated for release in
autumn of 2001, but its debut was delayed after the terrorist attacks of September 11, in
the belief that the time wasn't right for a film critical of the United States' proactive
involvement in another country's affairs. The Quiet American finally opened earlier
this year, the result of vigorous campaigning by Michael Caine, who was nominated for an
Academy Award for his superb performance as the cynical journalist Thomas Fowler. Even so,
many potential viewers never even noticed; its DVD release gives it a second (third?)
chance for the recognition it deserves.
It's not the first screen adaptation of Graham Greene's
1955 novel. There was a disastrous 1958 film by Joseph Mankiewicz that kept the title but
shuffled the roles about, telling a very different story from the one Greene wrote. This
version hews far more closely to the book.
It is the story of a world-weary ex-pat British reporter,
Thomas Fowler (Michael Caine), who has a comfortable life in Saigon during Indochina's
final days as a French colony. He doesn't have to work too hard, so he spends his days
swanning around Saigon and his nights with his mistress Phuong (Do Thi Hai Yen). When his
wire service decides it's too expensive to maintain a fulltime stringer in such an
unnewsworthy locale, Fowler is desperate to stay -- he likes his life in Saigon and he
knows his wife back home won't grant him a divorce to marry Phuong.
He wires his home office that he's busy working on a story
that's big -- then he sets off to find one. Simultaneously, he forms an attachment
to a naïve young American, Alden Pyle (Brendan Fraser), who just happens to turn up
wherever he goes in pursuit of his big story. Worse, from his point of view, Pyle forms an
attachment to Phuong and wishes to grant her a respectability the old, married roué
cannot.
It sounds so obvious: Old Europe covets the renewal offered
by the exotic lover, the idealistic newcomer wants to bestow the dignity of independence.
Of course, Graham Greene never saw the world in such black-and-white terms, nor,
fortunately do director Philip Noyce and screenwriter Christopher Hampton. There are no
heroes here -- not Fowler, certainly not the French or the American "saviors,"
not even the Vietnamese anti-imperialists, and certainly not the warlords who represent
the "third force" championed by the young American.
That doesn't mean there's no point of view. Pyle is naïve
and idealistic, but his blindness to nuance and history allow him to perform (or at least
tacitly support) monstrous acts because they are justified by his high principals. At the
same time, despite our sympathy for Fowler, his motives for his actions are also spurred
by self-interest and his love of his comfortable status quo. There's enough guilt for
everyone --except the innocent bystanders, of course.
The acting is impeccable. Do Thi Hai Yen comes across like
a blank mannequin, but she's supposed to be the objectification of her country as
the plaything of the greater world powers. She's not given a lot to work with. Nor,
frankly, is Fraser -- but he turns in a great performance in spite of it. If you've only
seen him in live-action cartoons like George of the Jungle and The Mummy,
you'll be amazed at what he can really do.
Of course, it's no surprise that Michael Caine shines as
Fowler. Very few actors can match his canny intelligence on the screen. Through his
voice-over narration and unblinking presence, he manages to project weariness and a kind
of burnt-out desire (lust is too active a word) for something, anything, to hang on to.
Perhaps it really is Phuong he's yearning for, but it might just as well be a sense that
there's still something to care about.
The film's visual style matches Caine's intensity nicely.
Cinematographer Christopher Doyle is responsible and fills the film with color and motion
that enhances the storytelling. The film's establishing shot shows Saigon by night,
glittering like a jewel across the water as mortar fire pulses like heat lightning in the
distance. It's gorgeous, yet chilling -- and the proximity of beauty and danger to each
other are perfect metaphor for the events that follow.
It's become a truism that no movie can quite match the book
upon which it's based, and The Quiet American is far more streamlined and tight
than its novel. The narrative business involving the warlord General Thé seems sketchy,
and the novel's most arresting chapter describing a seemingly endless night in a remote
watchtower under attack by unseen enemies doesn't have the same impact as it did on the
page. However, the film has its own strengths, not the least of which is precisely the
same taut pacing that distinguishes it from its source. Noyce and Hampton have quite
rightly chosen to avoid the trap of being too faithful to the written version and have
focused on the personal and the visual aspects of the story.
As a result, The Quiet American is an almost perfect
translation of a strong novel into a strong movie. That's something to shout about.
...Wes Phillips
wes@onhometheater.com
