The Quiet American is an enjoyable and intelligent film about Vietnam in the early 1950s. On the surface it can be viewed as a film about two men fighting over a girl, but it also provides an interesting commentary on post-war geopolitics. The film is set in 1952 when the threat of "world communism" became an obsession for many.
Thomas Fowler (Michael Caine) is a cynical London Times correspondent based in Vietnam. Fowler is an older man, living with a beautiful young Vietnamese mistress called Phuong. Alden Pyle (Brendan Fraser) is a young, energetic, American idealist who befriends Fowler and later steals his girl. Fowler is jaded, lazy and selfish. He doesn't want to return to the UK. Pyle wants to rescue Phuong from what he considers to be a bleak future with Fowler. He offers marriage and Phuong accepts. She wants someone affluent to look after her. It's never clear whether she really cares about either Fowler or Pyle.
The relationship and competition between Fowler and Pyle can be interpreted as a metaphor for the post-war relationship between the U.S. and the European colonial powers. Pyle considers French efforts to defeat the communists in Vietnam as ineffectual. He doesn't like the way the Europeans exploit their colonies and treat people like second class citizens in their own countries. Pyle wants the Europeans out of the way so that America can lead the struggle against the communists; he favors a Third Way.
We eventually find out that Pyle is a senior CIA agent and the "Third Way" involves the U.S. putting its own thugs in charge. America's man is General Thé who commits two atrocities witnessed by Fowler, one in which women and children are killed. Pyle recognizes that the general is cruel and ruthless, but doesn't appreciate that backing violent thugs like the general is not in America's long term interests because it alienates the local population. Fowler doesn't approve of the carnage that develops and helps the communists to assassinate Pyle.
The communists are viewed sympathetically, they are presented as nationalists who just want to get the foreigners out of their country. The film presents the case that the domino theory was wrong and the Vietnamese just wanted their country back. According to this film they supported the Russians because they funded their independence struggle. The problem was that pushing the Europeans out of their colonies left a vacuum leaving the U.S. to become the world's policeman. I don't know enough about Vietnam to know whether the movie is historically accurate or whether the CIA had a master plan for the country back in 1952. But it is an interesting and thought provoking film.
The film revolves around the complex characters of Fowler and Pyle, Caine and Fraser do an excellent job in bringing the characters to life and making the film work.
Thomas Fowler (Michael Caine) is a cynical London Times correspondent based in Vietnam. Fowler is an older man, living with a beautiful young Vietnamese mistress called Phuong. Alden Pyle (Brendan Fraser) is a young, energetic, American idealist who befriends Fowler and later steals his girl. Fowler is jaded, lazy and selfish. He doesn't want to return to the UK. Pyle wants to rescue Phuong from what he considers to be a bleak future with Fowler. He offers marriage and Phuong accepts. She wants someone affluent to look after her. It's never clear whether she really cares about either Fowler or Pyle.
The relationship and competition between Fowler and Pyle can be interpreted as a metaphor for the post-war relationship between the U.S. and the European colonial powers. Pyle considers French efforts to defeat the communists in Vietnam as ineffectual. He doesn't like the way the Europeans exploit their colonies and treat people like second class citizens in their own countries. Pyle wants the Europeans out of the way so that America can lead the struggle against the communists; he favors a Third Way.
We eventually find out that Pyle is a senior CIA agent and the "Third Way" involves the U.S. putting its own thugs in charge. America's man is General Thé who commits two atrocities witnessed by Fowler, one in which women and children are killed. Pyle recognizes that the general is cruel and ruthless, but doesn't appreciate that backing violent thugs like the general is not in America's long term interests because it alienates the local population. Fowler doesn't approve of the carnage that develops and helps the communists to assassinate Pyle.
The communists are viewed sympathetically, they are presented as nationalists who just want to get the foreigners out of their country. The film presents the case that the domino theory was wrong and the Vietnamese just wanted their country back. According to this film they supported the Russians because they funded their independence struggle. The problem was that pushing the Europeans out of their colonies left a vacuum leaving the U.S. to become the world's policeman. I don't know enough about Vietnam to know whether the movie is historically accurate or whether the CIA had a master plan for the country back in 1952. But it is an interesting and thought provoking film.
The film revolves around the complex characters of Fowler and Pyle, Caine and Fraser do an excellent job in bringing the characters to life and making the film work.