The Quiet American

The Quiet American.
Dir. Phillip Noyce, 2003.

I stopped reading Graham Greene many years ago because I thought I really must expand my repertoire.  But as I watched this adaptation I immediately wanted to pick him up again.  Not only is the story astonishingly, accurately prophetic about the doomed American adventure in Vietnam, but its sense of sad fatigue is drawn from that very clairvoyance.

The jaded narrator, shrunken and world-weary rather than easily cynical, is immediately recognizable and attractive.  His motives are of dubious integrity, but he is more innocent than he appears, and less a fool than others view him to be.  Michael Caine nails him with a single cock of the head, a single unblinking look from red-rimmed, hooded eyes below a deeply lined brow.

The plot structure itself now seems a bit stagy since the basic allegorical elements have been used in so many novels and films since (Indochine comes to mind) -- the naively ruthless American, the knowing French, the lovely young woman who symbolizes the country itself.  Even her name, Phoung, means Phoenix.  But when Greene did it this was all fresh, and still holds power.

Brendan Fraser is excellent as the American officer Pyle.  But somehow Do Thi Hai Yen (Phuong) doesnt have the emotional weight on-screen that she could.  Of course her lines are paltry, but she also lacks presence.  Worse, at this remove the sexual politics (quite aside from the national politics) of her relationship with the narrator made me queasy.  It almost feels too close to pedophilia, and not I am sure what was intended by the director or the novel.  In addition, she is too child-like to justify the narrator's devotion.  Similar heroines in Indochine or Lust, Caution display much more self-awareness and gather the viewer's respect, adding to the tension and credibility.  Without it the narrator seems more pathetic than he needs to be.

That apart, still remains an excellent film.   I wonder at how easily the story could be transcribed to Iraq, or Central America ... Graham Greene was far more prophetic than perhaps even he realized.

4*
May 2011