It's interesting that when this film was released in 1993 that the prominent scene shown in film review shows is the scene where the South Vietnamese Army enter the village of Le Ly and come under attack by the VC . This gives the impression you're going to be watching a Vietnam film and the early part of the film does concentrate on the history of Vietnam . Too much so because if you do have a rough outline of Vietnamese history then you'll find the main story is being held up by Le Ly's potted history of Vietnam at every opportunity . There is a train of thought that if a film is too reliant on voice over then the film is failing on that level and this may well be a case in point
That's not the only flaw . The way everything is shot gives an idealised view of a far off exotic land . If the Vietnamese government want to do a plug for visiting Vietnam then director Oliver Stone has done the country a big favour . There's a war on don't you and no matter what Le Ly's village still manages to look like a Utopian destination and despite people getting frequently killed and raped one wonders why on Earth anyone would want to leave here . Indeed the cynic in me wonders if Stone is seeking a personal redemption by making this film . I know Stone volunteered for military service in Vietnam and I know prior to that he volunteered to be an English language teacher in Vietnam but yet I never felt I was watching a real world view of Vietnam , more of a clichéd Lonely Planet romanticised Westerner view of the country
There's also another flaw and that is Stone seems obsessed with Eastern mysticism . Heaven and Earth ? Ying and Yang ? Slumdog non millionaire and other new age nonsense as Stone concentrates on Karma and other metaphysical nonsense . The Vietnam war came about via Cold War politics and had nothing to do with nature or anything else outside of human engineered power struggles . Stone wants us to believe that a spiritual force is controlling everything but I'm afraid I'm more likely to listen to historians and scientists rather than soothsayers . The main flaw of the movie is that the story is ugly but the visuals are beautiful and while the audience can understand the point Stone is making via this technique it doesn't make new age thinking anymore credible
That's not the only flaw . The way everything is shot gives an idealised view of a far off exotic land . If the Vietnamese government want to do a plug for visiting Vietnam then director Oliver Stone has done the country a big favour . There's a war on don't you and no matter what Le Ly's village still manages to look like a Utopian destination and despite people getting frequently killed and raped one wonders why on Earth anyone would want to leave here . Indeed the cynic in me wonders if Stone is seeking a personal redemption by making this film . I know Stone volunteered for military service in Vietnam and I know prior to that he volunteered to be an English language teacher in Vietnam but yet I never felt I was watching a real world view of Vietnam , more of a clichéd Lonely Planet romanticised Westerner view of the country
There's also another flaw and that is Stone seems obsessed with Eastern mysticism . Heaven and Earth ? Ying and Yang ? Slumdog non millionaire and other new age nonsense as Stone concentrates on Karma and other metaphysical nonsense . The Vietnam war came about via Cold War politics and had nothing to do with nature or anything else outside of human engineered power struggles . Stone wants us to believe that a spiritual force is controlling everything but I'm afraid I'm more likely to listen to historians and scientists rather than soothsayers . The main flaw of the movie is that the story is ugly but the visuals are beautiful and while the audience can understand the point Stone is making via this technique it doesn't make new age thinking anymore credible