Stockholm Film Festival

The final film in Oliver Stone's Vietnam Trilogy is unique in his filmography. The film focuses on the life of the Vietnamese woman, Le Ly Hayslip, and it is based upon her two autobiographies. The story begins in a beautiful Vietnamese rural landscape where Le Ly (impressively interpreted by Hiep Thi Le) lives with her peasant family. But war changes everything. Le Ly leaves her village for a life in the depraved city of Saigon where she meets the disillusioned U.S. marine, Steve Butler (Tommy Lee Jones at his best). He gives her hope in exchange for loyalty and love. Once settled in America, increasing social and cultural clashes together with painful memories from the war start wearing him and his family down.
Heaven & Earth not only gives us the point of view of a Vietnamese girl but also depicts the tortured soul of her husband, a Vietnam veteran who is turning into someone he would have never become had it not been for the war. The Vietnam War theme was previously examined by Stone in Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July and he manages to handle it with delicacy. Extraordinary cinematography by the director's long time collaborator Robert Richardson, subtle acting performances by Joan Chen (of Twin Peaks fame) and Haing S. Ngor (The Killing Fields), along with the powerful score by the composer Kitaro (awarded with the Golden Globe in 1994) are all factors that add to the beauty of this real life drama.

ELIN LARSSON

Medverkande

Haing S Ngor,Hiep Thi Le,Tommy Lee Jones

Producent

Mario Kassar

Manus

Le Ly Hayslip

Foto

Robert Richardson

Musik

Kitaro

Talat språk

English, Vietnamese

 

Andra filmer från sektionen Lifetime Achievement Award

Se alla festivalfilmer från 2004