The Quiet American
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DVD details
Actor: Michael CaineBrand: Buena Vista Home Video
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 101 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-07-29
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Miramax Home Entertainment
DVD Reviews of The Quiet American
DVD Review: Extremely Underrated and a Real Bargain
Summary: 5 Stars
The Quiet American is a film based on the Graham Greene novel of the same name and his characters here have some shades of the characters in his novella-turned-screenplay The Third Man. In many ways The Quiet American is as true to Green's literary work as The Third Man is, and I would even say that it is as good as the The Third Man. Perhaps it is just that the quality of our present audience has diminished? This is the second film adaptation of Greene's The Quiet American. This version is as daring as the novel is in retrospect and it is without question light years away from the propagandist elements presented in the shameful 1958 version. Unfortunately the Quiet American was quiet at the box office and failed miserably. More shame, as it is in my humble view one of the best films in the last ten years.
The film is set in Saigon in the early 1950s. It takes place right at the end of the First Indochina War but, like the novel, its political snaps are not at the forefront because they are not necessarily intentional, they are assumed. That is probably because only someone lost in the fog of patriotism would dispute them as facts. But the Quiet American is actually a love story. It is about and narrated by, Thomas Fowler (Michael Caine), a British journalist at the twilight of his life hanging onto his youth by falling for a young Vietnamese girl named Phuong. Enter his contrast; Alden Plyle (Brendan Fraser), a naive but educated young American who falls for Phuong and offers her what he sees within his strong moral code as a far better life. That same moral code is tested considerably but to Director Phillip Noyce's credit, I never see Pyle as a villain and likewise to Fraser's credit, as he plays Pyle as if he could proudly be him fifty years ago. Unlike Greene's novel, the film's ending is more politically charged, but I bought into it and it meshed well with the film overall. I don't want to reveal more than that for those who haven't read the novel or seen the movie but it is a fantastic film full of absolutely outstanding performances. The film almost stands in opposition of the 1958 version but in doing so, it is far more consistent with Greene's novel.
It is important to note that the performance of Michael Caine is one of the best I'd seen in years (he was nominated for an Oscar but lost to Adrien Brody for his work in The Pianist). Caine bounds about in this kind of half-alive state from scene to scene, but downplays it just enough that we believe him as a survivor. He is such an amazing actor that easily slips under one's radar by putting together such simple and restrained performances. He is rarely melodramatic and has never been picky about screenplays, but for me his performances remind me more of real life than almost anyone. Brendan Fraser is also great for many of the same reasons and he also happens to play a cartoon buffoon in nine out of ten roles he chooses. So what? In a rare feature role within a great film, Fraser is absolutely perfect.
Finally, this is a beautifully shot film and was done so on location in Vietnam. Not a common occurrence for sure, and Noyce is kind to soak it in for us. There is something about this film that gives me hope, not in love or war, but in big business filmmaking for taking such a fair and worldly view on a tale worth telling in the cinema once again. On the other hand, was anyone really listening?
Description of The Quiet American
The acclaimed performances of two-time Academy Award(R)-winner Michael Caine (Best Supporting Actor, THE CIDER HOUSE RULES, 1999; HANNAH AND HER SISTERS, 1986) and Brendan Fraser (THE MUMMY, GODS AND MONSTERS) power a stylish political thriller where love and war collide in Southeast Asia. Set in early 1950s Vietnam, a young American (Fraser) becomes entangled in a dangerous love triangle when he falls for the beautiful mistress of a British journalist (Caine). As war is waged around them, these three only sink deeper into a world of drugs, passion, and betrayal where nothing is as it seems. Based on the classic novel by Graham Greene -- you'll find yourself riveted by the fascinating intricacies and ever-developing intrigue of this outstanding motion picture.The Quiet American proves that elegant and intelligent filmmaking can be emotionally powerful. Michael Caine plays Thomas Fowler, a British journalist in 1950s Vietnam with a lovely Vietnamese mistress named Phuong (Do Thi Hai Yen) and a jaded view of the political strife teeming around him. He befriends a seemingly innocuous American named Alden Pyle (Brendan Fraser), who falls in love with Phuong--and slowly, Pyle's real purpose in Vietnam becomes revealed. Fowler finds that, to hold on to the carefully balanced life he's created for himself, he must make choices he's long avoided. Caine and Fraser are both superb and give a human face to complicated politics; as a result, The Quiet American manages to be compelling as both history and a story about very specific people embroiled in a very personal conflict. An impressive film from director Philip Noyce (Rabbit-Proof Fence, Patriot Games). --Bret Fetzer
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