The Quiet American

Writers Christopher Hampton and Robert Schenkkan adapt Graham Greene’s novel about self-loathing European cynicism (symbolized by Michael Caine as a British reporter) and misguided American idealism (Brendan Fraser as an embassy attaché) contending for the soul of Vietnam (Do Thi Hai Yen as the woman torn between them—a dull and colorless performance that staggers under the weight of her symbolism). My my, how times change: Greene’s anti-Americanism, which was toned down for Joe Mankiewicz’s 1958 film, is pumped up here, glossing over the treachery of Caine’s character and emphasizing the sordidness of Fraser’s. Inevitably, Hampton and Schenkkan trowel on gobs of postwar hindsight unavailable to Greene, who wrote in 1955 with Korea in mind. Phillip Noyce’s direction is glum and sententious. JL