The two versions of "The Quiet American"

In Europe, when we mention Vietnam, in the first place we mention the 'war'. In some way this is true because in the thousands of years of history the Vietnamese knew many occupations. Chinese, French, Japanese, Americans, Khmer, Chinese .... Especially Chinese regarded the country in the south (nam) where some people (viet) were living, as a nice pleasant extension piece of their own country. The name Vietnam dates from the time of the Chinese occupation. It was first Nam Viet and later became Vietnam.

The "Vietnam War" where we are talking about is in Vietnam known as the "American War". For people of my generation it was the war against colonialism. And like other wars and miserable things, also this war was reason for creating the greatest works of art. Some atrocities and to go through them, we can ample describe with words but for this music is a strong language. Life in the occupied Leningrad Shostakovich described gripping in his 7th symphony. Jimi Hendrix did the same with the 'Vietnam War'. We already had quite a few protest songs, but Jimi was the first who let us feel, undergo what the real war felt. 'Machine Gun' is an incredibly masterly work. From Jimi it was already known that he only had to look to a guitar to give that especially sound, but in 'Machine Gun' there’s no longer a guitar you hear ... it's the war in all its misery.

Misery and art, it is often in one line or as Graham Greene wrote in his "The Third Man": ".. they had five hundred years of democracy and peace — and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock "

In 1951 Graham Greene stayed as a war correspondent in Vietnam. There he met an American who came to offer 'social assistance'. Greene had quickly realize that it was only a facade. He remained until 1954 in Vietnam and wrote in that period, "The Quiet American". The book was published in 1955 and the Americans were not happy. Yet it was quickly filmed, in a modified version of course. Greene was not happy. It is very interesting to compare this version made in 1958 by Joseph L. Mankiewicz with the version of 2002 made by Phillip Noyce.

The story is set in Saigon and both movies were filmed in Vietnam, the 1958 version completely in Saigon, the later partly in Ha Noi. At least, I recognized streets of the old Ha Noi town. I guess because those are more authentic than the streets nowadays in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon. The most striking is that in the 1958 version no Vietnamese plays a role, at least not as an actor. And that is noticeable to everything. Now you could say that at that time there were no good Vietnamese actors and therefore, the they casted the Italian actress Giorgia Moll Phuong. But Phillip Noyce also used the totally inexperienced Do Thi Hai Yen as the main actress.

In an interview Phillip Noyce tells how and why he ended up with her. The interview can be seen on (You Tube or on the Talk-Vietnam site.

It is a very nice interview in which he tells how it was not him who chose for this book, but the book choose for him. One of the reasons why he wanted to film the book again was the fact that in the 1958 version the bloody attack committed by the 'Quiet American' was attributed to the communist Vietminh. Indeed, the 1958 version was used to justify the coming U.S. intervention because suddenly Ho Chi Minh and his freedom fighters were considered as a gigantic communist threat. Less than ten years earlier the same Ho Chi Minh was trained and provided with weapons by the OSS (the forerunner of the CIA).

Phillip Noyce decided to make a remake and in mine opinion it was also one of the most beautiful films about Vietnam. Why do I think he is so wonderful? Because Noyce made Phuong, the main character, consciously or unconsciously, in line with the 'The Story of Kieu "(*). This is Vietnam's main classical literary work, written by Nguyen Du (1766-1820). Du lived in the time that the Northern Trinh king was fighting with the Southern Nguyen King. That war was in the 17th century, with a comic Dutch contribution: the VOC decided to help the Northern army with some vessels. The Northern army would do an overland attack and the VOC would attack by sea. The ships of the VOC were there, the Northern army not, it was a less successful adventure for the VOC. (**)

The Tay Son uprising ended the conflict between the two kingdoms, there was a new emperor where Du had to work for ..writing beautiful texts, against his feeling, he wanted to remain loyal to the former ruler. How he felt he expressed in the figure of Kieu. A great beautiful girl that was coveted by a powerful man, unfortunately she was already in love with another but no worries. Her father was thrown in jail and she could only save him by herself to that awful mighty man who also appeared to be a pimp. Du used 3254 verses in 6/8-metre to describe her years miserable existence masterfully and. Many Vietnamese can recite from their heart many lines of this work.

The greatest novel figure of the Vietnamese literature is a girl who prostitutes herself to save her family. The parallel with Phuong in The Quiet American is not difficult to draw. Phuong is gorgeous, not so strange for a Vietnamese woman, and she should pick up a rich westerner to support her family. Her older sister watch it closely and is not as charmed by Fowler, the British journalist where Phuong, in the beginning of the story, lives together. The reason is simple: Fowler is married and his Catholic wife would not divorce (an autobiographical piece of Greene). Only when Phuong can marry a foreigner, the income insured. When the American Pyle pops up and the regulating sister hears that he’s not married, she decides that Phuong have to break with Fowler and should go further with Pyle.

The end of the story is that Pyle, because of that bloody attack, is disabled by the Vietminh, but with indirect help from Fowler. In the 1958 version Phuong becomes very angry at Fowler an doesn’t want to be his girl anymore, she has become a real resistance heroine. In the version of 2002 she goes back to Fowler.

Very typical endings of both films, not because the fact that in the 2002 version the novel Greene is followed, but because it shows us the difference between a film set in Vietnam and a film about Vietnam.

First, it is not in line with the tradition that a girl who should provide her family with money , suddenly starts to play a heroic political role, it is also entirely unclear why Phuong was going to do this. She is not interested in what kind of work Fowler or Pyle are doing, her only interest is to provide for her family and for the rest she hide her inner self completely and she leads a rather empty existence. Although in luxury, but also knowing that if this rich man disappears another will come ... as long as she is attractive.

And that rather sad picture of Phuong is what Noyce and his lead actress Do Thi Hai Yen makes us clear in a very moving way. While Mankiewicz Phuong made a fierce resistance fighter, which was never going to be accepted by her older sister.

Giorgia Moll

Do Thi Hai Yen

‘Let it be’ zou de lijfspreuk van Phuong kunnen zijn. Het leven is nu eenmaal zo, we maken er het beste van. Het is ook de lijfspreuk voor veel jonge Vietnamezen. De ‘Vietnam Oorlog’ hebben de meesten niet meegemaakt, de gemiddelde leeftijd van de bevolking ligt rond de 35-40 jaar. Ze kennen hem wel, op een directe manier vanwege de vele toeristen die er speciaal voor naar Vietnam komen, indirect vanwege alle desastreuze gevolgen, teveel om op te noemen. Alleen houdt het hun niet bezig, ze zijn te druk met de opbouw van hun land. Ze werken zeven dagen per week van zeven tot zeven, behalve op zondag, dan stoppen ze een uurtje eerder. Dan moet er voetbal gekeken worden.

Het is niet dat het hun niet interesseert, het is meer dat de wond nog niet echt geheeld is en dan is het verstandiger er af te blijven.
‘Let it be’……

Roby Bellemans

(*) KIEU, (bilingual Vietnamese-English); Ha Noi 2011, The Gioi Publishers 9786047702701

(**) Leeuw en Draak, vier eeuwen Nederland en Vietnam; 2007 Amsterdam; Boom 9789085065203