LITR 5734: Colonial & Postcolonial Literature

Student Film Presentation 2005

Aaron Morris

25 October 2005

Film Highlight: The Quiet American (2002)

Based on the 1955 novel by Graham Greene (1904-91)

Director Phillip Noyce

Cast: Michael Caine, Brendan Fraser, and Do Thi Hai Yen

Summary of plot

Surface appearances are deceptive, and nowhere is this more true than in Phillip Noyce's evocative adaptation of Graham Greene's The Quiet American. From the opening moments, when it slowly becomes apparent that beautiful fireworks etched against the sky are, in fact, the sounds and sights of an encroaching war, Noyce sets his scene in a world where nothing is as it seems.

This adaptation (scripted by Christopher Hampton and Robert Schekkan) of Greene's classic tale of desire and deception, set during the French war in Indochina in the early fifties, matches Michael Caine and Brendan Fraser in a battle of moral, political and even existential dimensions. Caine plays Thomas Fowler, a rather lazy British news correspondent who has settled into a sensual lifestyle in Saigon with Phuong (Hai Yen Do), his stunning young Vietnamese lover. Enjoying colonial luxuries and priding himself on his non-involvement in a war that is on his doorstep, Fowler rarely files any stories and is on the verge of being called back to London by his newspaper. This changes when Alden Pyle (Fraser), an idealistic aid worker whom Fowler describes, approvingly, as a "quiet" American, arrives in the city. Ostensibly, Pyle is in Vietnam as a doctor, but it soon becomes clear that both he and the increasingly visible American mission have another agenda. Unprepared for what he will uncover, Fowler sets off to find a story that will extend his stay in the country.

Few films deal with this particular moment in history, or with the growing American involvement in the region that was soon to explode into the full-fledged conflict that enveloped Vietnam. Noyce tells a complex love story of competing desires for the same woman, set against a tapestry of shady manoeuverings for political power. The dynamic between Fraser and Caine is fascinating to watch as these two accomplished actors navigate the paradoxes of Pyle and Fowler's relationship. Aided by the beautiful cinematography of Christopher Doyle (best known for his collaborations with Wong Kar-wai), Noyce achieves an uncannily visceral evocation of a time and space charged with intrigues both personal and international.

Movie reviews

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1118347-quiet_american/

Colonial vs Post-Colonial

…as the British character Fowler says to the American Pyle, "We're the old colonials."

Pyle at one point, “We’re not colonialists.”

Similarities to Conrad – Going up the river

Hybrid language and culture – English, French, and Vietnamese

Similarities to Forster – Play opening line of movie

Allegory – Definition from Glossary of Literary Terms

The presentation of an abstract idea through more concrete means… Although allegories have coherent plots, their authors expect readers to recognize the existence of a second and deeper level of meaning…

Play scene 8 and scene 16.

Discussion:

What does Phuong (Phoenix) symbolize?

What does the dog symbolize?