Heaven and Earth - A film by Oliver Stone
July 18th 2010 11:08
Oliver Stone’s 1993 film Heaven And Earth is based on two autobiographical books by Le Ly Hayslip, ‘When Heaven and Earth changed Places’, and ‘Child Of War Woman Of Peace’. No doubt, the main character of Heaven And Earth is Le Ly, played by Hiep Thi Le. Heaven And Earth marked a change for Oliver Stone, despite many of it’s visions of torment and pain, Heaven And Earth has an abundance of gentler, heart centred themes that are a significantly noticeable for the writer and director who has time and time again bludgeoned us with political films about men (Born On The Fourth Of July, Wall Street, Salvador). Despite Heaven And Earth being one of my favourite Olive Stone films, it has over the years, been buried underneath his canon of other work, this could have something to do with Heaven And Earth being wedged between ‘Platoon’ and ‘Natural Born Killers’, and unfortunately, for most people Heaven and Earth is not a film they immediately think of when Stone’s films are mentioned.
As usual Oliver Stone creates a fascinating historical portrait and dramatically provocative film, with a few large differences. For starters, the film and it’s main characters are all a part of a South Vietnam village and only briefly does the film journey to America and also, the city of Saigon. Set during the Vietnam war, Heaven And Earth is a beautifully illuminating exploration of the Vietnamese people’s point of view, rather than just a typically American film portraying U.S. soldiers. Le Ly is a young South Vietnamese girl born into a village who have struggled to keep their place of home peaceful, as strife has continually arisen in the past between her country, with China and then France. The film begins with her as a 5 year old girl, her villagers having to rebuild their home after it burned down. Their land is beautiful, with rich tall grass blowing from the wind and it’s skies above, they are a part of sacred ground which is connected to Buddha and when Le Ly becomes a young woman that is when trouble erupts between the her south land and the north Viet Kong.
Le Ly’s two brothers are won over by the cause of the Viet Kong and go to fight for the north. The residents in all of Vietnam are mixed, family and friends divided by the north and south, and as a result Le Ly remains distrusted by South Vietnam and the American Soldiers as they interrogate and torture her over the link her family has to Viet Kong. The Viet Kong themselves, also terrorize her family and rape Le Ly, and soon she becomes extricated from her village, belonging to neither side. When Le Ly moves to Saigon and makes some mistakes, this puts more of a burden on her and for a brief moment she seems to find happiness in General Steve Butler, played by Tommy Lee Jones (Natural Born Killers, No Country For Old Men, In The Valley of Elah), she continues on a journey to America and back as she completes her circle of growth. There are moments in Heaven And Earth that are extraordinarily powerful, emotional and very moving.
This really is a huge, sweeping journey of a young women leaving her mother and father and travelling out into the world, don’t mistake that for a coming of age film though, it’s not. Heaven And Earth plays like an Epic told in the most intimate way possible. There are some wonderful scenes with Le Ly and her father. Her mother, played by Joan Chen (Mao’s Last Dancer, Twin Peaks) also plays a separate role in her life entirely and I love how the two parents weren’t treated like one in the same character, they completely have two separate purposes which I thought was wonderful. The acting all round is flawless, however I did notice one or two inconsistencies in the dialect which Le Ly spoke as her broken English fluctuated depending on who she was talking to. Tommy Lee Jones gives one of his best performances ever here as the initially gentle husband who in the end is one of the same tortured souls we met in ‘Born On The Fourth Of July’. My favourite actor here and the possibly the warmest soul to ever grace the screens of an ‘Oliver Stone picture’ is the father, played by the late, academy award winning actor Haing Ngor (The Killing Fields), who truly has a memorable impact on the viewer long after you’ve watched it. There’s something special about Ngor here, who I was so moved by in places that I found myself welling up once or twice.
Haing Ngor as Papa
Heaven And Earth, at a length of 2 and ½ hours could be separated it into two distinct halves, that feel dramatically quite different. The first half is an account of Le Ly’s hardships and the atrocities of war, the second is when she moves forward in her life and begins to grow. While the first half is quite tough, it feels a lot more emotionally satisfying, dramatically more interesting and historically riveting. I found myself captivated by how the war was portrayed, firstly it would have been difficult for the Americans to differentiate between northern and southern folk as they were scattered among each other, many friends and loved ones having their world torn apart by savage, political ideals and the war that came out of this. It’s easy to see why South Vietnam and America lost the war, the Americans weren’t interested in helping the people of Vietnam, but only in terrorizing them. Their presence was feared by the South Vietnam woman, children and elderly as much as they feared the Viet Kong. It’s quite amazing to watch a character, who’s world is intensely respected, researched and then recreated powerfully - see them go through so much and still survive! The first one and a half hours are nearly flawless, during the last hour and a bit, I sensed the film faltering slightly, desperate for a lighter tone to emerge. When Le Ly moves to America with her husband, for a while Heaven and Earth becomes much lighter and there’s almost like a fish out of water, situational comedy tone to it. While I didn’t mind this and it warmed the cockles to see Le Ly realize some happiness in her life, an issue dawns on Heaven And Earth where the passage between it’s lighter section and the tragedy to follow suddenly feels heavy handed.
Heaven And Earth is full of gallant, grand images that are shot divinely by regular Oliver Stone cinematographer, Robert Richardson (The Aviator, Snow Falling On Cedars, Kill Bill, Shutter Island) and for the life of me I don’t know why Oliver Stone and Richardson parted ways as Richardson’s penchant for shooting on multiple stocks and formats really complimented Stones stylistic boldness. The score by Kitarô (who also did work on the soundtrack for Man Hunter) is also worth noting as it helps to create the film’s poignant flourishes. The editing by Sally Menke (Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Death Proof) and David Brenner (Talk Radio, Born On The Fourth Of July, Independence Day) play a big part in creating the film’s emotional pull and sense of timing. The whole experience is very powerful, it may not be as staggering or memorable as some of Stone’s other films, but it’s his most beautiful and emotionally resonant film.
Here’s the trailer for ‘Heaven And Earth’.
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Comment by Anonymous
Cliff
Comment by ShaunK
Screen Adventure
Thanks for reading!
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
This was a diversion from Stone's typical films with a tender approach to one of his favourite subjects.
I do love Stone's work and this may not rank at the top of my list but is still a worthwhile film for sure.