Thursday, February 13, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Film: Vietnam takes back seat to love story in Quiet American

By Bob Grimm

While on the surface The Quiet American appears to be about the CIA and America's growing involvement in Vietnamese affairs during the early '50s, it is actually about something else altogether. Based on Graham Greene's novel, the true focus of the film is a love story, with the origins of the war in Vietnam serving as merely a backdrop.

As British journalist Thomas Fowler, Michael Caine does excellent work as a man who finds refuge in 1952 Saigon, away from his aging wife and the rigors of full-time work in England. Yes, there are bombs going off with more frequency in Saigon, but there are also teenaged beauties willing to sleep with the old coot and get him high on opium whenever he feels like it. This beats having tea and biscuits at home with the wife.

Life gets complicated for Fowler with the arrival of Alden Pyle (Brendan Fraser), an idealistic American who falls in love with Fowler's mistress, Phuong (Hai Yen Do), and begins a campaign for her affections. Caine is afforded a couple of decent scenes displaying desperate jealousy, best of which is when he storms Pyle's workplace looking for a showdown with the guy making the moves on his woman.

The movie, one of two good directing efforts from Phillip Noyce in 2002 (the other being the superior Rabbit-Proof Fence) is also about political intrigue and the start of America's communist-ridding campaign in Vietnam. While the film's dealings with the subject are of interest, the story one walks away remembering is the sad love triangle, and its tragic consequences.

This is not an Oliver Stone film, and the movie does push politics into the background for the most part. This actually works on an entertainment level because the growing uncertainty in the world around the love triangle fuels the tension between the characters.

Fraser, a gifted actor who is not afforded enough opportunities to shine, gets a role away from his usual comic types. As he did with School Ties and Gods and Monsters, he shows he's capable of much more than laugh-getting, and his Pyle is a complicated, sympathetic character. Fraser portrays him as vulnerable, a little lovesick, and ultimately devious. While Caine has garnered his usual onslaught of appraisals for his work, it's Fraser who provides the film with its greatest sense of intrigue.

This is not to take away from Caine's performance. He has always been an actor who alternately impressed and frustrated me (no way in hell should he have won an Oscar for that sloppy Cider House Rules performance). That said, I would put Caine's performance here among his best work, and it might possibly be his very best. While I've tended to view much of his past work as fairly routine (he often seems to simply be portraying Michael Caine), this character provides him with something multi-dimensional. He's one step closer to being completely forgiven for Jaws: The Revenge.

Be forewarned: Preview trailers for this film are terrible, giving away far too many secrets. The movie has some big mystery and revelations within, and it's a shocker that Miramax has allowed a preview that gives a lot of those mysteries away. If the commercial should infiltrate your television, go play with your dog or take a bathroom break.

The Quiet American isn't a great film, but it is a good love story. Those looking for a film brimming with political intrigue in regard to Vietnam should rent Platoon or Born on the Fourth of July. Those looking to see Michael Caine get all worked up over a woman should line up for this one.