| A huge Michael Caine fan, I admire his performance in THE QUIET AMERICAN as Thomas Fowler, a mature in years British correspondent in 1950's French Vietnam. Brendan Fraser does a solid job as Alden Pyle, a young American who falls in love with Fowler's Vietnamese girlfriend. (Mr. Fraser is excellent as the swashbuckling, romantic, funny male lead in THE MUMMY.) THE QUIET AMERICAN is a love triangle movie but it is also a political film and, unfortunately, it is at heart an anti-American film. The film basically condemns American efforts to organize native Vietnamese forces against the communists, which seems necessary since the French at the time were losing the war against the communists. I can't really say more about the political aspects of the movie without giving away the plot, except to say that the dramatic tone and emotional weight of THE QUIET AMERICAN make Americans the villians of the piece without little, if any, logical foundation. If you don't much like American proactive foreign policies, you will probably like this film a lot. If you are pro-American you may be disappointed at the bitter tone here. That aside, THE QUIET AMERICAN nevertheless is a beautifully filmed period piece with lots of authentic-feeling sets and excellent acting. It is a poetic movie in some ways and worth seeing for the excellent script and high production values. And for Michael Caine. The director, Philip Noyce, made PATRIOT GAMES, another well-made movie. |
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