Heaven & Earth (1993)

Directed by Oliver Stone
Written by Le Ly Hayslip, James Jayslip, Jay Wurts and Oliver Stone

Rated R for violence, language and sexuality.

"Heaven & Earth" is the third film in Oliver Stone's "Vietnam" Trilogy (after "Platoon" and "Born on the Fourth of July"). While the first two focused on the American experience of the war, "Heaven & Earth" captures the tumultuous experience of the Vietnamese themselves.


The film is based on the true story of Le Ly Hayslip, a Vietnamese woman whose village is torn between the opposing political forces vying for control over Vietnam. The film opens with beautiful, serene landscapes of pre-war Vietnam. The vibrant colors and natural beauty make this one of Stone's most visually engaging films.

But war soon finds Le Ly's village. Le Ly's two older brothers join the Viet Cong. They are taught that South Vietnam is their sister-land, and that their sister-land is being raped by foreign invaders. Ironically, when they are off fighting for the VC and unable to protect Le Ly, she is raped by village boys who are convinced she's an American sympathizer. Banished from her village, Le Ly tries to find work as a maid for a wealthy businessman. She is quickly fired when she becomes pregnant with the master's baby.

Le Ly moves to the big cities of the north, far away from her war-torn village. She uses her keen business skill to raise money to support her fatherless child. She is constantly propositioned by American soldiers on shore leave, and continually tells them she's "not that kind of girl", but eventually  sleeps with two infantrymen when they agree to pay her more than she makes in a year.

Enter Tommy Lee Jones as American Marine Steve Butler, who clumsily sweeps Le Ly off her feet. They are swiftly married, and Le Ly comes to America to live as Steve's housewife. Le Ly's mystified by the strange ways of Americans. Steve's family are fat, and have a refrigerator twice as large as any I've ever seen. Le Ly watches in horror as huge portions of uneaten food are washed down the disposal every night after dinner. One of Steve's fat, female kin pushes Le Ly to eat more food "because of those starving people in Vietnam". Steve loses his temper and defends Le Ly's honor, telling the woman "Le Ly can't eat for her whole country".

Steve and Le Ly's honeymoon period ends abruptly when Le Ly discovers that Steve's position in the military involved selling weapons; the very weapons that had been used to terrorize her people. Le Ly becomes detached and starts several small businesses so she doesn't have to be financially dependent on Steve. Eventually the two separate.

Le Ly returns to Vietnam after the war to see her mother and brothers and to sleep in her father's house again, to give his spirit rest as he had recently passed away. She is met with criticism by her brothers, who see her as a "rich foreigner" who they no longer recognize. Le Ly is ridden with guilt, but her mother tells her not to feel bad. She tells Le Ly that if she had stayed in the war-torn village, her boys would have been raised amongst turmoil and death. She had managed to give her children a better life in spite of the hardships of her own.

The shining star of "Heaven & Earth" was Joan Chen, who played Le Ly's black-toothed mother. I had previously only seen Chen as wealthy sawmill heiress "Josie Packard" on TV's "Twin Peaks", in which her acting was pretty horrible. I expected more of the same here, but Chen's performance is truly amazing. She completely melts into the character of Mama, a character that undergoes many changes throughout the course of the film. Her character matures realistically throughout the film's timeline and gives fantastic emotional performances of poverty, hope, love and sadness.

Towards the end of the film, Chen's character appears as an old woman. The old-age makeup effects on Chen for this portion are incredibly realistic. This is especially significant because old-age effects are notoriously hard to make look good (see Dustin Hoffman at the end of "Little Big Man").

I gave "Heaven & Earth" a 9/10. The first half of the film is a solid 10, but the film lags a bit in the second half. Like many biographies, we discover that accurate accounts of peoples' lives rarely have the intricate, elegant narrative structures of fictionalized histories. While not Oliver Stone's best film, "Heaven & Earth" is certainly a strong entry in his oeuvre. I thoroughly enjoyed it!















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