Heaven & Earth

As he did with his first two Vietnam films, "Platoon" and "Born on the 4th of July", Oliver Stone creates a powerful tale of the devastation of the Vietnam War. What makes this movie so unique, both from Stone's earlier work and virtually every other American movie about the Vietnam War, is that "Heaven and Earth" is told from the perspective of a Vietnamese woman. This movie is based on two books of memoirs written by Le Ly Hayslip, a Vietnamese woman who grew up in a simple farming village in central Vietnam but whose life --- and those of most Vietnamese people, we can infer --- is turned upside-down by the madness of the Vietnam War. Strictly as a movie, this is a good but not great film. Even at almost 2 1/2 hours, the structure is a bit stilted in order to accommodate such an extensive story. The first 30 minutes are mostly voice-overs and the movie doesn't pick up steam until later, when scenes are allowed to flow for extended amounts of time and we become caught in the drama. Tommy Lee Jones gives another brutally realistic performance as a lifetime military man who can't leave the war behind. Hiep Thi Ly is okay as Le Ly Hayslip; not Tommy Lee Jones caliber acting, but she competently plays a very difficult role. I read she was an amateur actress only chosen after an extensive casting call, and I'm glad that they decided to go with an actual young Vietnamese woman instead of choosing a generic asian actress. It might not make a difference to most, but it certainly felt more "real" to me with an authentic Vietnamese-American in the main role. Oliver Stone shows his mastery of mood and camerawork as he jumps from the beauty of the Vietnam countryside, to the ravages of war, to the shocking (for Le Ly) wealth of suburban America. The movie occasionally drags but overall I'd still give it an 8 out of 10 because it's such a powerful and important addition to the cinematic depiction of the Vietnam War. The movie also inspired me to read the 2 books ("When Heaven and Earth Changed Places" and "Child of War, Woman of Peace") it was based on. Stone had to compress many events in order to fit the run time; for example, the Tommy Lee Jones character is a fabrication based on 3 different men (and probably meshed into one man as much for the drama such an explosive character provides as for the time constraints), while her books spend extensive time on all 3 relationships. However, the dialogue for several key scenes were taken almost word for word from her books, and I thought it captured the spirit of the story remarkably well, especially for a major studio movie. I highly recommend anyone interested in the film or in the war to read these books, and I commend Oliver Stone for making a trilogy of important films not just for cinema, but for American history.

source: Heaven & Earth

Trailer—Heaven & Earth

Heaven & Earth

This is Oliver Stones third trip to Vietnam but unfortunately also the least interesting and successful. That's a shame given that Stones previous efforts where at least very solid, but even more because this was the first US-American film to put a Vietnamese victim into its centre. The Vietnam films of US-production companies never gave much thought to the victims, even if they were very critical of the United States' role in the war. "Heaven & Earth", however, fails to give the viewer an insight into the pain and sorrow the victims really suffered, because it wants to be too dramatic and meaningful. Much more seriousness and much less sensationalism would have been able to turn this into a good film. The closer the film gets to its end it loses and loses credibility. Tommy Lee Jones' storyline was unfitting and wrong for me, that I almost lost my complete interest in this woman's story, because I just didn't believe it anymore.

One womans story and courage and a story of love at a time of darkness. A well directed marsterpiece and shows the impact of war on people living in vietnam.

''Heaven & Earth '' is an amazing story of a woman called Le Ly,and I consider it to be specially a story of not only survival, but victory in life.The fact that this story was real,makes this film even better,since we can see that optimism and a real power to go ahead,can make our lives change for the best. Le Ly is a Vietnamese village woman, who lives during the hard times of Vietnam war. She passes through the worst things in her life, since being tortured by Vietcong,being a fighter and also a teenager mother,who needs to be a prostitute in order to have something to her and her son to eat. When she marries an USA soldier called Steve Butler and goes to America,her life was about to change for the best,but years passed and Steve became a violent man and also an alcoholic,and again, Le Ly have big problems in her life. The good thing is that she will become a rich woman with her business in USA,and even today (yeah, she is alive!) she helps many people from Vietnam.

After a long string of box office and critical successes, Oliver Stone tried making a different kind of war film, this one being shown from a Vietnamese woman's perspective. Very interesting and entertaining throughout, but it does have some extremely unpleasant and cruel scenes, not unlike many other war films. The first hour of the film takes place in Vietnam during the war and is full of Vietnamese culture and feeling. As soon as Tommy Lee Jones comes into the picture as an unstable American soldier, the film soon feels and becomes much more Americanized and eventually very depressing. An interesting work from Oliver Stone that unfortunately was barely released in 1993 and received lukewarm reviews from critics. Still, its worth watching, and its never boring. 7/10.

"Heaven and Earth" follows the life of a Buddhist Vietnamese peasant girl through the protracted and convulsive American-Vietnam war, the aftermath and reconstruction. A solid three star flick, "H&E" is important inasmuch as it casts in concrete for posterity the Vietnamese perspective of the epic American fiasco in an entertaining movie format. As a stand-alone piece of work, "H&E" may grow somewhat tiresome after 2+ hours under the heavy-handed Stone auteuresmanship. Nonetheless, the film should have value for those who only know about the war from the typically biased American film point of view. (B)

Oliver Stone's "Heaven and Earth" is a fantastic film that shows what the effects of war are on the human spirt. Now, more than ever this film is very poignant. The movie is based upon two of Lelay Hayslip's memoirs which chronicle her growing up in Vietnam and the effects of war upon her, her family and her country. It was fascinating and at times very difficult to watch. I couldn't help but thank God that as Americans we have not had to experience what the Vietnamese went through. The view of war that Stone portrays is very humanistic. One line in the film was especially riveting.... "Rebuilding a country after war is like having a family thru rape". We see how the war throws apart Lelay's family. If you haven't seen this film.. I highly recommend it!