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Film
The quiet before the storm
[Photo: Miramax]
Michael Caine turns in one of his finest performances as journalist Thomas Fowler in The Quiet American, based on the Graham Greene novel.
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In a film whose camera work, writing and acting foreshadow inevitable disaster, three people in a love triangle presage their countries' roles in the fate of Vietnam.
By STEVE PERSALL, Times Film Critic
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 6, 2003
In 1952, the British empire wheezed through its final stages of colonialism, losing whatever Her Majesty's entitlement had gained. Meanwhile, a new, covert sense of foreign relations arose, with the United States emerging as the world's peacekeeper, a brawny intruder declaring what was best for foreign nations, if it also served our purposes.
Between these two countries, in interest if not geography, lay a beautiful French colony called Vietnam.
[Photo: Miramax]
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Alden Pyle (Brendan Fraser, left) is a young American whose presence in 1950s Vietnam threatens the complacency of British journalist Thomas Fowler (Michael Caine) in The Quiet American. |
That political triangle is symbolized by a romantic one in The Quiet American, an absorbing drama based on Graham Greene's novel, written in 1955 before U.S. citizens paid much attention to our Indo-China interests and couldn't imagine what the results would be. Director Phillip Noyce combines the author's prescient cynicism with lush depictions of pre-war Vietnam in an allegory made timely with each new report from Iraq.
This is not a film for hawkish tastes. Miramax Films realized this after the Sept. 11 attacks and the jingoistic responses to them, so it delayed the film's release for a year. Even then, it took arm-twisting by two-time Oscar winner Michael Caine to coax Miramax into giving the movie a chance in theaters. Caine didn't want one of his finest performances to go unnoticed. He also rescued one of the best films of 2002.
Caine appears magnificently worn-out as British journalist Thomas Fowler, a once-impressive reporter now coasting on his reputation and growing indifference back home about his beat, Vietnam. Fowler is emblematic of his country's stand in the region, bowing to French colonialism and enjoying its exotic resources -- especially opium and a young woman named Phuong (Do Thi Hai Yen). Fowler's remote comfort is being interrupted by internal division between Communist rebels and fat-cat incumbents.
Phuong's sensual presence is the only thing that makes Fowler feel vibrant, and the married journalist does all he can to keep her in his grasp. She is like the country she lives in, beautiful and mysterious, a prized possession. Losing her would be the beginning of his death, he claims, as losing colonies was for the empire.
Into the mix comes the quiet American of the title, an "economic aid worker" named Alden Pyle (Brendan Fraser). Young, dashing and curiously concerned with Vietnam's conditions, Pyle quickly catches Phuong's eye, and the attraction doesn't escape Fowler. Pyle symbolizes the America of that period: He's a confident outsider playing his true mission close to the vest. When that plan becomes obvious, Fowler has two reasons to mistrust him.
Even without making historical comparisons, The Quiet American is a fascinating film, recreating a period seldom addressed in cinema. It's like seeing Cuba in The Godfather Part II era, a paradise lost to political upheaval and deadly posturing. Noyce is as evocative with these surroundings as with the Outback in his other 2002 release, Rabbit-Proof Fence, a film sharing a slot with this one on my top-10 films list.
But this is a Cold War movie heated by human passion and hindsight's regret, not didactics. The screenplay by Christopher Hampton and Robert Schenkkan uses conversations among the lovers to foreshadow political events beyond their control, and their tragic paths mirror those of their respective nations. That's a lot of weight for any actors to carry on their shoulders, but this cast excels.
Do Thi Hai Yen's Phuong is an alluring source of romantic tension, and not as helpless as she seems. She could survive without either man, although their promises are tempting. Fraser again proves he's better than most of his role choices, matching a veteran actor with the same skill he brought to Gods and Monsters a few years ago.
But this is Caine's film, with a role incorporating everything he does right as an actor: ruffled pride and sardonic assurance, plus the good instinct to use his aging against himself in service of the character. Fowler looks and sounds tired of work, global responsibility and the swagger that got him where he is and now doesn't impress anyone. Any resemblance to empires living or dead is purely intentional.
The Quiet American
- Grade: A
- Director: Phillip Noyce
- Cast: Michael Caine, Brendan Fraser, Do Thi Hai Yen, Rade Serbedzija
- Screenplay: Christopher Hampton, Robert Schenkkan, based on the novel by Graham Greene
- Rating: R; violence, profanity, drug abuse
- Running time: 118 min.
- Opens Friday: Veterans 24 in Tampa, Hollywood 20 in Sarasota
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