The quiet American (2002)

The quiet American, directed by Phillip Noyce (based on a novel by Graham Greene) is one of the films I found more tolerable upon second watching. This is by no means a great film, but it makes some interesting points about colonialism and the events and power nexuses leading up to the Vietnam war. The problem is perhaps that the political aspect becomes little more than an element in a thriller (I should read the novel: I like Greene). Some of the scenes chronicling the political attitudes of the "American", Alden Pyle, a humanitarian aid worker, were awfully non-subtle (the American promenades into a post-explosion scene and what does he do? He calmly wipes blood off his pants. This moment, and another one, where we see him talk Vietnamese (which he is supposed not to know) gives us clues to see that he is not the person he pretends to be. OK, I get it. The most interesting aspect of The quiet American as a political movie is Pyle as a character; ignorant, "idealistic", with shady intentions that are perhaps not clear even to himself.

The film's attempt at love story is one hell of a mess - I am unclear as to whether this is good or bad. But there is a political aspect of the film's portrayal of a romantic triangle. The quiet American seems to allude to the image of the Oriental woman: obedient but cunning, aloof, a beautiful secret. The woman in the film, Phuong, is depicted almost as a possession, over the right to which two men, a British reporter and the American humanitarian aid worker, fight. But there are also moments when this picture is smashed, whe Phuong is presented as a real person, not just a projection of two men's desire. I suppose these two men's "desire" (for what?) is discussed critically in the film, but there are, I think, relapses into conventional and sexist film language (depicting sex, for example, and the way the camera zooms in on Phuong's body).The question is: is the ambiguity that surrounds Phuong's role in these men's life intentional (that we are supposed to see variations of power: colonial, gendered, economic) or is it an instance of blurry thinking? I don't know, but I opt for the first.

There is little to be found in terms of inventiveness in The quiet American. For the most part, it's a film that follows the rule-book (how love is depicted, how violence is depicted, the structure of the film, etc.).The rule-book showcases plenty of examples of sepia-toned cinamatography and elegiac atmospheres.
But, on the other hand, Michael Caine & Brendan Fraser are rather good in this.