It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

As the third part of an unofficial trilogy of Vietnam films, Stone picked as the final point a good challenge for himself as making a film not only from a woman's point of view (1st time), but from the side of the "enemy" of the war he and Kovic fought in. Of course Vietnamese people were seen in Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July, but always as the "other", either in limited roles as the so-called enemy or as tragic figures of oppression. And yet despite opening during the Christmas season, it failed to connect with audiences.Seeing it now, finally, I can see why in some part; people from the West, Americans especially, wouldn't necessarily be interested in the point of view of someone who was on the side of the 'other', whether it's oppressor or oppressed (despite the attempted selling of the film on Tommy Lee Jones, audiences probably knew better that he wasn't the full star, more on him in a moment). It's one thing to see the point of view from the side of Americans, but for the other it's a tougher pill to swallow (maybe the exception is Letters from Iwo Jima, maybe), despite years after things are over and the wounds are beginning to heal. Maybe there's another aspect that is difficult to pinpoint but I could see it as Stone's, shall one say, spiritual side coming through which is his Buddhism, which is the religion of the protagonist Le Ly. How does one fully forgive and go for the belief in karma and past lives and so on? For me, this is a film that I could connect to simply on the grounds of it being a human portrait of a life lived through many, many beats. And in a way it makes sense from how the life story is told that it's the third part of a trilogy which began as a story of someone's life in the short term (the stint in combat), somewhat longer (from youth to awakening as a man full circle), and here it's from childhood to further as an adult. The life of Le Ly is at times dramatic... no, actually, it's brutal and unrelenting in its grimness. Le Ly's village is decimated and torn apart by war (not simply the Americans, though they certainly leave their mark, but the division between the two sides of the Vietnamese who bring equal hardship and misery and torture to Le Ly), and then when she has to leave with her mother to Saigon, as the story would say, "my troubles were about to begin".I'm tempted to say the first half of this may be TOO dramatic, in a sense, that things keep being thrown at Le Ly's way one after another: torture, rape, becoming an unwed mother on the streets, a dying (soon after dead) father, as well as a brother who was sent off to war and died. When I say 'heavy' it's more like an anvil is dropped. This is not to say the tone is always so heavy as far as being over-bearing - the emotion that's poured out in scene after scene by Hiep Thi Le is incredible, showing so much through her eyes as many a great actor can do. I think part of is is simply through Oliver Stone being... Oliver Stone, this coming as the "cool-off" between JFK and Natural Born Killers, so you can expect sometimes unwieldy camera-work and black and white flashbacks and the sort of intense lighting and compositions from Robert Richardson that, in a way, feel a little more out of place this time than in other Stone films of the period. The attempts to amplify the tension and horror (with the exception of one image, a big shock of fire going across the screen) are too much this time and clash with the otherwise strong, pretty straightforward direction of the dramatic scenes.Then we get into the second half when Tommy Lee Jones comes in, and it becomes a stronger picture. But his part in the film as well as everything that comes after does only work with that first half, if that makes sense; everything that Le Ly has endured and experienced, every moment that's forced her to be less foolish or ignorant or slow to understand something or naive makes her stronger so that when a strong, seemingly kind and generous man like Jones' Steve comes in, we get it. We know why she puts her guard up and why it goes down. And for Jones' part, as he has an arc as well as a man with a slowly-but-surely deteriorating veneer of strength through years of being a f***ed up "Psy-Ops" guy, he gives the performance that I'll just pretend he won the Oscar for in 94 instead of the Fugitive. It's really among his major performances, certainly one of the ones he should be remembered for, creating this man Steve as an engaging, fun, terrifying, wounded, tragic figure in Le Ly's life.I think that if Stone had reeled in some of his crazier stylistic tendencies of the period - he does, mostly, but not enough - and perhaps cut a little out (at 140 minutes it feels too long, mostly near the end, however necessarily in general it may be to complete Le Ly's arc), it would've been a film to stand with the rest of his work for the time. But as far as underrated films from a major director, this is one that is deeply felt and reveals someone who can deliver an experience outside of his usual worldview. At the same time it works as a feminist picture, a story of a woman making her own life on her own terms, while the spiritual side of things is always there. Though I wanted to like it more, I'd say if you want to finish Stone's oeuvre you won't be disappointed.

To me, this and JFK are the best movies from director Oliver Stone, but the two are world apart as far as the movie goes.First the backdrop of each scene of this movie makes you yearn for somewhere to go home to. Then you see the tanks, the soldiers, and of course the war shows that home is being ravaged into a place where you can't go any more. I actually feel being torn away from the place of my heart, and I'm not even Vietnamese. So I'd say the visual impact of this movie is high.South Viet Nam was a relatively wealthy country in Southeast Asia because they had the perfect climate for growing rice and crops, but just because of the war, you see people becoming destitute. The way the story and the visuals comes together in this movie is one of the best I've seen. It really provokes something in the heart. I've never had a movie experience like this before or since I've seen this movie. The only negative I can see is the poor quality of Asian female actors. Except for Hiep who played the lead role, everyone else was bad to the point of being painful to watch.If a movie is supposed to tell the story and give the simulated experience of the people who are in the story, this is without a doubt one of the best movie I've ever seen.

The third, and most likely final , film in Oliver Stone's trilogy about the Vietnam war is here.In "Platoon" we learned of the horrors of war through the eyes of new recruit Chris Taylor, "Born on the Fourth of July" covered the story of Vietnam veteran come anti-war activist Ron Kovic, and "Heaven and Earth" finally completes the picture by giving us the Vietnam perspective.Based on two autobiographical novels by Le Ly Hayslip, this high powered drama concerns her struggle for survival in war torn Vietnam, as both the allied forces and the North Vietnamese Army constantly threaten her village with death and destruction.Once again stone has created a thought provoking and disturbing piece of cinema, as we follow young Le through her tragic life from ravaged Vietnam to the United States. Hiep Thi Li is very impressive as Hayslip in her film debut, while Tommy Lee Jones, Haing S. Ngor and Joan Chen are strong in support. The cinematography (Robert Richardson) is quite superb as is the sweeping score (Kitaro).Unfortunately "Heaven and Earth" is not as forceful and powerful as the previous films, but this can be attributed to the fact that it is once again not as focused a work as its predecessors, and also because we've seen it before in Stone's earlier war epics, thus it doesn't have the same shocking effect.However, little else can be faulted in yet another eye opening drama from Oliver Stone.Wednesday, January 26, 1994 - Knox District CentreThe final part in Oliver Stone's Vietnam experience is told from the Vietnamese perspective with both compassion and conviction.Based on Le Ly Hayslip's (pronounced Lay Lee) autobiographical books "When Heaven and Earth Changed Places" and "Child of War, Woman of Peace", our director's screenplay tells the heartbreaking story of a young woman's devastating journey through life, from an innocent victim of war, to the troubled wife of a U.S. Marine.Following on from his powerful war epics "Platoon" and "Born on the Fourth of July", Stone has crafted a very different and somehow more emotionally involving drama. A magnificent performance from newcomer Hiep Thi Le brings us close to Le Ly's plight as she is first tortured by the Allies and the V.C., then forced to leave her village and try to survive on the streets of Saigon.Strong support comes from Academy Award winner Dr. Haing S. Ngor, Joan Chen and Tommy Lee Jones. Robert Richardson returns to again bring us some startling images of war, as well as some impacting pictures of western society (one particular wide lens shot of a refrigerator alone manages to put our indulgent, wasteful culture to shame). Kitaro provides a sweeping score and the Art Direction and Set Decoration keep things very authentic.As in "J.F.K.", Oliver Stone has crammed so much into "Heaven and Earth" that it's a lot like trying to cope with "Reader's Digest". Yet, though it starts slowly, Stone shows for a third successive time the evil of war and the way in which it destroys lives, families, villages and entire countries. "Heaven and Earth" is also a sobering reminder of our flamboyant and richly blessed lifestyle, and one that's free of the ravages of war.If you don't object to being bludgeoned with a point of view, then all three of Oliver Stone's Vietnam works come highly recommended.Sunday, October 23, 1994 - Video

In a small Vietnamese village, Le Ly finds her whole world shattered by the Vietcong and the conflict within her country. After suffering torture, abuse and rape she leaves the village with her mother and heads to Saigon. Continuing to find herself taken advantage of, Le Ly's life continues to be shaped by the influence of men, whether it is bosses and soldiers or the politicians who guide and create the wars that bring the men into her otherwise peaceful life.Opening with sweeping music, beautiful landscapes and happy Vietnamese villagers going about their happy lives in happy ways, this film immediately had alarm bells ringing. It is of course commendable that Stone completed his trilogy of Vietnam films with a story from the Vietnamese point of view and it had the potential to be clever and subtle. Sadly neither of these words get a look in here. The true story itself offers much pain, many harsh judgements and much sadness; it also offers a portrayal of male/female relationship that works well as an analogy for the countries themselves. However Stone was not the person to deliver a sensitive piece that speaks for itself – instead he seems to doubt his audience and insists on ramming it down our throats from start to finish. It is the equivalent of having him come into your home, stand an inch from your face and yell at you for 2 hours; and it is a long two hours.The cast are more or less lost in the storm that Stone creates. Hiep Thi Le gets on with portraying Le Ly by just doing the best she can to suffer convincingly. I didn't think I got to grips with her as a person but this is perhaps less to do with her performance and more to do with Stone apparently not having a lot of interest in her as such. The support cast all turn in their simple characters well enough and most can point to the screenplay in their defence – Chen, Jones, Reynolds and a few other famous faces do their thing but it is Stone that dominates every scene and the film is weaker as a result.Overall then a commendable close to the trilogy in terms of approach but not at all in terms of delivery. I could discuss the finer points of plotting and performances or the factual nature of the story but these have all been nullified by Stone's hammering delivery, that squeezes all the emotion, intelligence and importance out of the story and leaves a film that is miserable and lacking subtlety and certainly not one that deserves Le Ly's life to work with.