The Quiet American

In the midst of a suddenly and extremely frenetic life, I managed to enroll myself into a new DVD library that opened recently - Cinema Paradiso. Seemed to be a nice place and at first glance, appeared to have a pretty good collection, including World Cinema.

One of the movies we picked up was The Quiet American. I'm never one for war movies, and especially those with the backdrop of the Vietnam war. The only movie I remember having sat thru was Good Morning, Vietnam.

However, my attention was captured by the opening scenes of this movie itself. It starts with the death of an American, Pyle, and a British reporter Fowler, is called in to identify him.

Fowler, played to perfection by Michael Caine, is trying to prolong his stay at Vietnam, comfortable with his life and his Vietnamese girlfriend Phuong, who is a former taxi dancer. He comes into contact with Pyle, an American eye doctor, played by Brendan Fraser. Pyle falls in love with Phuong at first sight, and an interesting triangle ensues, with the politics of the Vietnam war interwoven skilfully into the tale.

Fowler's detachment disintegrates as the movie progresses, and he is drawn into making decisions that affect him personally. One unforgettable scene is when he tries to confront Pyle at his office, after losing Phuong to him. Pyle is not there, but Fowler makes a scene nevertheless, then locks himself in the men's room, and breaks down. A lovely line from his Vietnamese assistant goes something like: "Sooner or later, Mr. Fowler, one has to take sides if one has to remain human".

Pyle's clean and honest character slowly muddies as the story unravels his true identity. Brendan Fraser, whom I've seen before in such imbecile starrers as The Mummy and George of the Jungle, quite surprises, by turning in a real neat performance, with a mature and underplayed portrayal.

Do Thi Hai Yen's dignity, tranquility and expressive eyes, as Phuong, make complete, what I feel, is a casting coup.

It was a quiet and mature kind of movie - no over-dramatising or over-the-top heroics. The human interest angle was retained with a sense of detachment; emotions were very subtle; the war scenes were sparsely used, and shot in a subdued manner; the horrific explosion and its aftermath in Saigon were once again portrayed with a human touch.

It's based on the novel by Graham Greene which I haven't read, so I can't really say what's missing. The other interesting angle was that I watched the movie with little or no sound - only subtitles (as you can guess, I was watching it at real odd hours! :D). So, though I can't really comment on the background score (the subtitles had such gems as "omninous music sounding"!), the lack of sound did very little to detract the substance of the movie, which I felt, was very creditable.

All in all, it was a movie worth watching.