Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)"Heaven and Earth" is a difficult movie to tackle. The almost-true story of Le Ly Hayslip, it is a beautiful, compelling story of a peasant girl caught up in the madness of the American/Viet Nam war, not knowing which side to take and ultimately attempting just to stay alive and find some happiness.
Almost-true, because her amazing story needed to be condensed into a two and a half hour feature film. Three men became one, years became weeks and vast sections of her life were neatly trimmed away. This is understandable in any biographical film, but the result her is not so fluid as in other movies of this type. Also, an odd decision was made to film the movie entirely in English, except when interacting with American soldiers when they slip into a sort of broken English. Having the film be in Vietnamese, with subtitles, would have made for a more authentic experience.
Tommy Lee Jones' character, the three men condensed into one, jumps too quickly from Hero to Monster to Victim, and one seeks for the core of his character in the movie. Who is he? It is difficult to tell. Hiep Thi Le as Le Ly is also confusing, at one minute the innocent, wide-eyed girl looking to be loved and the next a sophisticated businesswoman who is willing to sacrifice everything for success and money. As seen in "Evita," this kind of transformation isn't impossible to tell but here it doesn't seem honest. One looks for the sophisticate in the peasant or the peasant in the sophisticate, and doesn't find them.
In spite of these criticisms, there is enough right about "Heaven and Earth" to make the film enjoying and captivating. Telling the American/Viet Nam war from the point of view of the Vietnamese people is a jarring juxtaposition, and something I have never seen done before. Such a daring feat would be almost impossible in today's political climate of the US. Le Ly's story takes her through all walks of life and many aspects of the war, giving you something to think about at each stage.
The cinematography is beautiful, and the colors and textures of Viet Nam make it seem like a paradise. The paradise is shattered by wars, with the green rice being overrun by the green tank and soldiers. In such a situation, it is difficult to tell who is right and who is wrong, with each side putting guns to your head ordering you to believe their ideology.
I am glad to see this version of the DVD being released, with Hiep Thi Le on the cover instead of Tommy Lee Jones. Good as he is, he is in only about 30 minutes of the film, and certainly doesn't deserve the cover.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Heaven & Earth - Oliver Stone Collection (1993)
"Tommy Lee Jones burns through the screen like white phosphorous" (Newhouse News Service) in Oliver Stone's powerful Vietnam saga of a man who fought, a woman who endured...and a love enmeshed in a war's brutality.
Click here for more information about Heaven & Earth - Oliver Stone Collection (1993)
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