Heaven & Earth (1993 film)
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| Heaven & Earth | |
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| Directed by | Oliver Stone |
| Produced by | Oliver Stone Arnon Milchan Mario Kassar |
| Written by | Oliver Stone (Screenplay) Le Ly Hayslip Jay Wurts (Novel: When Heaven and Earth Changed Places) |
| Starring | Tommy Lee Jones Joan Chen Haing S. Ngor |
| Music by | Kitaro |
| Cinematography | Robert Richardson |
| Editing by | David Brenner Sally Menke |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | December 13, 1993 |
| Running time | 140 min |
| Country | France/USA |
| Language | English, Vietnamese |
| IMDb profile | |
Heaven & Earth is a 1993 film directed by Oliver Stone and starring Tommy Lee Jones, Haing S. Ngor and Hiep Thi Le. It is the third in Stone's Vietnam trilogy, which also included Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July.
The film was based on the book When Heaven and Earth Changed Places, which Le Ly Hayslip wrote about her experiences during and after the Vietnam War.
[edit] Plot
Le Ly grows up happy in her village and her life was indeed heaven on earth. Her life changes when the Viet Cong show up in the village; first to fight the French then of course the United States. During the time of America's involvement, Le Ly is captured and tortured by the South Vietnamese government troops. After that she is raped by the Viet Cong because they suspect that she is a traitor. After being raped, her relationship with her village is no more; it cannot be. She, her parents, and her siblings must move.
Her family moves to Saigon where she is misled into believing that the master of the household, where she is employed, really cares for her. He gets her pregnant, the master's wife becomes enraged and Le Ly's whole family is forced to move again back to their former province. Here she meets Steve Butler (Tommy Lee Jones). Steve Butler is a seargent in the US Army. Understandably, at the time she meets Steve she is not interested in a boyfriend or marriage. She suffered much.
Steve falls for her and treats her incredibly well. He makes a big difference in her life while in Viet Nam. In somes ways he is actually a hero. In one scene he places her and their two children on a helicopter to get them out of harm's way while he jumps off with an M-16 rifle in hand, engaging the Viet Cong with his company (military unit).
When they get to the United States, their life together starts out well but years of killing and life in the bush finally do Steve in. He becomes uncontrollably violent. The relationship falters. Yet, she finds a key to make the marriage work through Buddhism. Unfortunately, more tragedy strikes. She follows the Buddhist belief in going with fate as it occurs. In the film, it seems that flowing with fate, although painful and scary, works in her best interest.
[edit] Cast
- Haing S. Ngor - Papa
- Joan Chen - Mama
- Hiep Thi Le - Le Ly
- Thuan K. Nguyen - Uncle Luc
- Tommy Lee Jones - Steve Butler
- Dale Dye - Larry
[edit] Music
The music, by composer Kitaro, won the 1993 Golden Globe Award for "Best Original Score."
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