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Edinburgh University
Film Society 47 Years of Student Run Cinema 1963-2010 Student Film Society of the Year 2002, 2005, 2006 |
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Phillip Noyce, USA/Germany/Australia, 2002, 101 minutes
The Quiet American is a rare beast in movie-land: a film set in Vietnam that isn't a Vietnam film, an adaptation that improves on the original novel, and a film where Brendan Fraser is a seriously good serious actor.
Set in the early 1950s, Vietnam is a country fractured by factions (some little more than gangsters) fighting an escalating guerrilla war for independence from fading French imperialism. The conflict is also taking on a dark and nasty edge as increasing all sides turn to ethnic cleansing.
Rather than another blood and guts movie, we see Vietnam through the eyes of Thomas Fowler (Caine), an apolitical British reporter, and it is Fowler's uncertain love affair with Phuong (Tzi Ma) and with Vietnam that formers the axis of the film.
As the US enters the conflict Alden Pyle (Fraser) - an American diplomat - enters Flower's life. Shunned by the locals and drawn together through their respective trades, Fowler and Pyle begin to form a friendship that is soon at risk. Mirroring the replacement of Imperial power in Vietnam with American, Pyle is appalled at Fowler's relationship with Phuong and in trying to discourage it Pyle begins to fall in love with Phuong himself.
More than just a love story, The Quiet American speaks of the road to hell good intentions can often pave. In travelling around much of the country Fowler finds it harder to remain detached from the deepening conflict especially as he begins to see that despite the stated goals of peace and democracy American involvement is delivering neither.
The Quiet American is Philip Noyce's follow-up to the equally acclaimed Rabbit Proof Fence. Adapting Graham Greene's novel, Philip Noyce has produced an intelligent and beautiful film that moves at a tense, fast pace (only 90 minutes) without overwhelming with plot. Unjustly held back in the wake of the September 2001 terror attacks, The Quiet American is a fair and balanced in showing the blood on the hands of all and any judgements or conclusions are for you to make.
Review by Breandan
Written for EUFS Programme Autumn 2006