The Quiet American (2001)

Thomas Fowler (Michael Caine) is an embittered British Journalist working in Vietnam (then Indochina), covering the political situation. A man known for his professional objectivity and honesty, Fowler’s personal life is a fiasco. Involved with a local woman, Phuong (Do Thi Hai Yen), whom he loves, Fowler is married to a strictly religious woman back in England who refuses to divorce him. Into their lives steps an enigmatic American man (Brendan Fraser). The American man falls for Phuong, and asks only that Phuong be given the opportunity to choose between the men and (like Indochina), resolve her destiny. In danger of losing Phuong to the American, Fowler is drawn into a suspicious and venomous state, convinced that the American is supplying explosives to non-Communist troops. “The Quiet American” leaves the more contentious political elements of Graham Greene’s novel to languish in favour of highlighting the personal grief of a middle-aged man in crisis. This version directed by Phillip Noyce is a remake of the 1958 film directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Filmed on location in Vietnam and Fox Studios, Sydney.