HEAVEN AND EARTH
A film review by Chuck Dowling
Copyright 1996 Chuck Dowling
(1993) *** - C:Tommy Lee Jones, Hiep Thi Le, Joan Chen, Haing S. Ngor, Debbie Reynolds, Dustin Nguyen, Jeffrey Jones.
To enjoy the work of director Oliver Stone you must put aside any personal opinions about him. It's true that he takes himself and his work much too seriously. However, if you are able to just concentrate on his films and treat them as works of fiction based on actual events, then you'll see that he's a great filmmaker. Not counting the awful "Natural Born Killers", he has given us some great films such as "Platoon", "Talk Radio" and one of my favorite films of all time, "JFK". I had huge expectations for this film, some of which were met, but for the most part they were not.
"Heaven and Earth" is based on the writings of Le Ly Hayslip, who grew up in a small village in Vietnam only to see it ripped apart by the ravages of war. In the film's first act, we see her life in the village before the war. The people there are peaceful and content with life. When the war begins we see the horrors brought about by both the Viet Cong and the South Vietnamese. Both groups try to coerce the villagers to join their side. Many of the villagers are accused by each side of being traitors and are punished and tortured for information. This part of the film, showing the heartwrenching anguish of what these people went through, especially Le Ly, packs quite an emotional punch and ranks among Stone's best work. To my knowledge, this is the first mainstream American film to show this side of the war.
Having said that, it's hard to understand why the film becomes such a simplistic, easily predictable soap opera. Le Ly and her mother leave the village and head to Saigon where the two of them become housekeepers for a wealthy couple. The husband seduces Le Ly and she becomes pregnant. The wife then finds out about the affair and banishes Le Ly and her mother from the house. Her mother then returns to the village while Le Ly finds work selling cigarettes, liquor, and eventually herself to American GI's. There's nothing interesting as far as plot here, and this part of the film could have easily been done without.
Just as the film reaches it's lowest point, Sgt. Steve Butler (Jones) shows up. At first he appears to be a nice guy just looking for someone to talk to. It's obvious to the audience, however, that he's too good to be true. He marries Le Ly and takes her back with him to America. It's back in the states when we start to learn that the war has destroyed Steve's soul as his character becomes a cliched, drunken maniac who staggers around, beats up on Le Ly, and spouts out theories about Black Ops and the Special Forces (typical Stone dialogue). She eventually gets away from him and she returns to her homeland to visit her family. At this point, the film tries to end on more highly charged emotional scenes. However, the first act was so powerful and moving that by this point you have nothing left to give to these characters.
So is "Heaven and Earth" a good movie? Yes and no. It's a very well acted and directed film. The story however, started out original and then sank into easy predictability. Also, it's not the kind of film that is made for entertainment or enjoyment. You can't leave the film saying to yourself, "Wow, I enjoyed the things that happened in that movie." Would I ever watch the film again or recommend it to anyone? Probably not. Although, the first act was good enough to give the film a better than average rating.
-- Chuck Dowling Visit Chuck's Movie Reviews at http://users.southeast.net/~chuckd21/ Over 1,500 movies rated and/or reviewed! Movie news, box office reports, film related links, and reader's polls and reviews.
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