Vietnam Praises 'Quiet American'
HANOI - Vietnam's communist government has approved the film ``The Quiet American'' for release
in that country, calling it a ``progressive movie'' about American imperialism in Southeast Asia.
The film, based on Graham Greene's 1955 novel, tells the story of a CIA operative whose actions lead to the murder
of dozens of innocent Vietnamese during the French war in Indochina. It is the first major Hollywood production
filmed in Vietnam.
The National Film Review Council viewed the film this week and approved it for mass distribution, Nguyen Thi Hong
Ngat, deputy director of the Vietnam Cinema Department, said Saturday.
``The council members all agreed that this is a progressive movie and made the decision without reservations,''
she said. ``It's a fascinating movie which truly reflects the Vietnamese history at that time.''
Set in the French colonial era, the story revolves around a tumultuous love triangle involving cynical British journalist
Thomas Fowler (actor Michael Caine), naive American aid worker Alden Pyle (Brendan Fraser) and Fowler's
beautiful young Vietnamese mistress, Phuong (Do Thi Hai Yen).
But the love story turns into a symbolic and blunt critique of American involvement overseas — a message that
Vietnamese officials praised in granting approval for the movie to be shot on location last year.
During five weeks in the country, the film crew transformed modern-day Ho Chi Minh City — formerly Saigon — as
well as Hanoi and other places, into faithful recreations of colonial Vietnam.
The film's Australian director Phillip Noyce, along with several stars, will return to Vietnam for the movie's premiere
in Hanoi on Dec. 17 and in Ho Chi Minh City on Dec. 19, Ngat said. It will be released nationwide in movie theaters
after that.
A Hanoi-based company has bought the rights to distribute the movie in Vietnam, Ngat said.
``The distributors told me that since the movie was about Vietnam and shot in Vietnam, they wanted to be the first to
distribute the movie in Vietnam, not going through a foreign film distributor,'' she said.
The film opened in the United States a week ago, with limited releases in New York and Los Angeles. Critics have
given it good reviews, with Caine mentioned as a possible Oscar nominee.
``I think people would like to see the movie very much, because they are curious to see how Hollywood makes this
movie on Vietnam,'' Ngat said.
The Associated Press - November 30, 2002.
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