Heaven & Earth (1993)

Much has been made of this film being a disappointment, a box office flop, or a nod in the direction of Buddhism, and so on. To my knowledge no reviewer here has yet made the point that, ironically or not, _Heaven and Earth_ is one important reason _Little Buddha_ sucked as badly as it did.Short back story: Bertolucci feared competition from another "Buddhist" film, as he feared Stone's production to be, so Bertolucci dumbed down the _Little Buddha_ script, rewrote scenes constantly, and rushed to market. This on a personal communication from one of the writers, who also happens to have an Oscar to his name, but not for _Little Buddha_, obviously.Anyway, I found this film hard to sit through the first few times. Eventually I realized why. The storytelling is, if you allow it, so powerful that even without showing violence directly, the impact of the _implied_ violence is almost overwhelming, even in spite of being (compared to Apocalypse Now, for example) relatively understated. Tommy Lee Jones' performance is powerful. But overall, the greatest feats are the writing, the cinematography and the direction.Heaven and Earth is a moral coup, low box office aside.

The third of Oliver Stone's trilogy on the Vietnam war, is also the least known of the three. However, that does not reflect on its quality in any way. I found this as compelling, if not more, a portrait of the effects of war on the human psyche.The story is based on the true life memoirs of Le Ly Hayslip, a woman caught in a Vietnamese village during the Vietnam war, and who later flourished in the US. While, some of the characters may have been fictional, by and large it seems to be a faithful adaptation. The cinematography in the village (supposed to be Vietnam, but I heard is Thailand) is breathtakingly beautiful, and I can only imagine how wonderful it would have been to see this on the big screen.The movie follows the life of Le Ly, as she grows up in a peaceful village in Vietnam, farming with her parents and siblings. Life seems idyllic till the VietCong appear. Their propaganda against the government influences some of the villagers to support them. Eventually the government forces come and start taking away villagers for questioning (torture). One such day, Le Ly is taken away. The sequences depicting the torture are pretty graphic and not for the faint of heart. Eventually, after she is released, she makes her way to the city with her mother, and her story continues, eventually ending up with meeting a marine, Steve Butler (Tommy Lee Jones, who makes his appearance after an hour into the movie) and flying to the US.The story quite beautifully captures the effect the war has on different individuals, including an amazing transformation in the character of Steve Butler, as he is tormented in the USA by images of the war and by his own failures afterwards. The acting is very good mostly, including a brilliant turn by Haing S. Ngor, who shot to prominence with his role in 'The Killing Fields'. The story eventually manages to capture the spirit of this lady, who overcame some bitter hardships in life.

Heaven & Earth (1993) was the final part of Oliver Stone's Viet-Nam Trilogy. The story follows a Vietnamese Peasant girl named Ly Le who's idyllic life in her village is changed forever by a civil war in her country. Both sides deal horrific atrocities against her and the rest of the village. Can Ly Le weather the storm that is the Vietnam War and keep her head up? What will happen to her village as the war gets more violent and brutal on both sides? How far can the human condition be under such extremes and still remain sane? You'll have to find out by watching this harrowing film Heaven & Earth.I really like this movie, Oliver Stone is such a masterful storyteller and the acting, directing and writing kept me on edge throughout the entire film. I have to highly recommend this film. Joan Chen (who still looks hot underneath the make-up), Tommy Lee Jones, Dr. Haing S. Ngor co-star as well.Highly recommended

''Heaven & Earth '' is an amazing story of a woman called Le Ly,and I consider it to be specially a story of not only survival, but victory in life.The fact that this story was real,makes this film even better,since we can see that optimism and a real power to go ahead,can make our lives change for the best. Le Ly is a Vietnamese village woman, who lives during the hard times of Vietnam war. She passes through the worst things in her life, since being tortured by Vietcong,being a fighter and also a teenager mother,who needs to be a prostitute in order to have something to her and her son to eat. When she marries an USA soldier called Steve Butler and goes to America,her life was about to change for the best,but years passed and Steve became a violent man and also an alcoholic,and again, Le Ly have big problems in her life. The good thing is that she will become a rich woman with her business in USA,and even today (yeah, she is alive!) she helps many people from Vietnam.