The Quiet American

If you love Graham Greene novels, and what literate person would not, this adaptation is well worth watching. Great soundtrack, and Michael Caine, as usual, nails it. There's just enough suspense and mystery about the quiet American, and the flashback structure works very well. Top notch.

I guess the film does about as well as you can when trying to put a book on screen. The acting didn't so much bother me as the narrating; Greene's book tells you a lot about the characters that the film's narrator (Caine) tries to relay, but it's only cursory and awkward compared to the book.

Case in point: the scene where Pyle tracks Fowler down up north by going up the river alone. If I remember the book correctly, this scene and its build-up were quite good in terms of "internal dialogue" and description, but I didn't feel like the movie captured it and Pyle in all his grandiose, well-meaning naivete. You just get Fowler telling Pyle he's crazy, and then Pyle gets scared by all the guns . . .

Speaking of which, I also thought Greene's book portrayed Pyle as a more naive character, more of a vehicle for myopic American idealism-cum-imperialism; whereas he seemed more scheming and aware in the film. Not necessarily a villain, but more manipulative than idealistic. Did anybody else get that impression?

By the way, Phuong has "no personality" in the film (as at least one reviewer puts it) because she represents Vietnam itself; both Pyle and Fowler are explicit on this point. Phuong is a sort of passive vehicle or recipient of these foreign suitors. She has "no personality" because this talk of love and liberalism and containment means nothing to her. Will you be there for her? Will you take care of her? Will her life be livable and honorable? That's all she cares about. Pass the opium . . .

Overall, and like the book, I really like that this is a Vietnam story that doesn't just frame it as "America against the world," or doesn't just focus on PTSD or something. It's more philosophical and worldly than that. Specifically, I like how it shows Vietnam as a colonial issue (not only or necessarily communist), and it doesn't hesitate to portray American involvement as colonial involvement.

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?

Graham Greene is one of the most filmed authors ever. His books and stories have been made into more than fifty movies, television episodes and mini-series. This one is the best.

The Quiet American is a perfect blend of intelligent and atmospheric film-making. Parts of it are achingly beautiful. As so commonly with Greene, the themes are the complexity of life, the ambiguity of moral choices and the fallibility of ordinary people; in addition, he has targeted the destructive role of American involvement in the region now known as Vietnam - even though, rather incredibly, the book was published ten years before the entry of U.S. troops.

Phillip Noyce is a very talented director who has made some excellent movies, but this one far surpasses them all. His masterly direction of the climax and the bomb scene, in my opinion, elevates him to the ranks of the great directors. The cast is also extremely well chosen. The principals - Michael Caine, Brendan Fraser, Tzi Ma and Do Thi Hai Yen - are all perfect for their parts (Caine probably deserved the Oscar for the year, although Adrien Brody was extremely good), and the extras are all extremely convincing - most notably the actual war victims who use their genuine injuries to make their roles frighteningly authentic.

Certainly the film script has made substantial changes to the book. In particular, the character of Alden Pyle has been changed from a naïve, innocent and largely forgettable bumbler to a more complex, less innocent, highly memorable but still essentially naïve character. In fact, almost all the changes appear to be improvements. I know Greene was very fussy about adaptations of his books and very critical of changes made by the film-makers, but I strongly suspect he would have approved of these changes, which not only make the work far more film-worthy but amplify the relationships between the characters, without doing any violence to Greene's concerns - unlike the earlier film with Audie Murphy, which he hated.

The DVD support material is very good, especially the anatomy of the bomb scene, which gives a clear idea (if it isn't already obvious) how much careful thought went into making this film.

Grahame Greene's original story has been made into two movies, the first in 1958 starred Audie Murphy and was pro-America. The 2002 version starring Michael Caine is a thought-provoking story that all those interested in Indo China should see as it gives an unbiassed insight into the beginning of the USA's involvement in the war in Vietnam. Beautiful photography has evoked the Saigon of the 1950s by using other locations in Vietnam. The special features, including the anatomy of a scene, are well worth watching.