{"id":9758,"date":"2021-11-25T17:01:57","date_gmt":"2021-11-25T09:01:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesmartlocal.com\/vietnam\/?p=9758"},"modified":"2021-11-30T12:26:36","modified_gmt":"2021-11-30T04:26:36","slug":"heaven-and-earth-1993","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesmartlocal.com\/vietnam\/heaven-and-earth-1993\/","title":{"rendered":"Heaven And Earth (1993): 5 Facts About Oliver Stone’s Vietnam War Movie Based On A True Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

Heaven and Earth<\/em>: Vietnam War story through a refugee\u2019s eyes<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Over four decades have passed since the end of the Vietnam War, and we have heard numerous accounts of it from both sides. From gripping memoirs to flag-waving patriotic films, we’ve been given a glimpse into the war through the narratives of both US and Vietnamese veterans as well as foreign journalists.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nonetheless, we haven’t come across many stories in movies from the perspective of the people who were simply stuck in the fights and became victims of circumstance. If you\u2019re keen to view the Vietnam War through the eyes of an ordinary Vietnamese citizen, check out <\/span>Heaven and Earth<\/b><\/em>. Directed by award-winning director Oliver Stone, this 1993 movie is one of the most elaborate Vietnam War movies ever made.<\/span><\/p>\n

To help you get started, here are some noteworthy facts about the movie.<\/span><\/p>\n

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1. It is based on a factual story<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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\nImage credit: <\/span>IMDB\/Robert Richardson<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Heaven and Earth<\/em> (1993) is based on<\/span> the <\/span>memoirs of Le Ly Hayslip, a Vietnam-born writer living in the US.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\nImage credit: <\/span><\/em>Fanpop\/fiyona<\/span><\/em>
\n<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

The movie tells the tale of<\/span> Le Ly<\/b> (played by Hiep Thi Le), a girl born in the tranquil village of Ky La, south of Da Nang, where she lives a peaceful life with her parents and five siblings. Her life goes smoothly until the first French troops, and later on Vietnamese communists, South Vietnamese forces, and the US soldiers storm her village and involve everyone in their conflict.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\nImage credit: <\/span><\/em>IMDB\/<\/span>Robert Richardson<\/span><\/em>
\n<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

The lives of farmers who don\u2019t care about anything else but tending the fields are changed upside down as they keep seeing their small homes burned down and lush rice fields blown up by different sides. They are made to build fences against the communist forces and given lessons on patriotism.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\nImage credit: <\/span><\/i>IMDB\/<\/span><\/i>Robert Richardson<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

Le Ly\u2019s life is badly entangled in some grassroots political schemes that she herself doesn\u2019t even fully understand, resulting in her imprisonment and savage physical abuse by soldiers.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\nImage credit: <\/span>IMDB\/<\/span>Robert Richardson<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Carrying a bag of broken dreams and shattered hopes, she and her family are coerced into leaving their village for Saigon, where she works as a maid in a rich family. She has an affair with her boss, gets pregnant, and consequently gets kicked out of her employer\u2019s house.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\nImage credit: <\/span><\/em>IMDB\/<\/span>Robert Richardson<\/span><\/em>
\n<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Her family is broken up, with her brothers going off to national service while her shame-consumed father takes his own life by drinking a bottle of acid. To make ends meet, she moves to Da Nang and starts engaging in black market activities, such as trading drugs and occasional sex work, in her early 20s.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\nLe Ly and Steve in a scene<\/em>
\nImage credit: <\/span><\/em>IMDB\/<\/span>Robert Richardson<\/span><\/em>
\n<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

There she encounters <\/span>Steve Butler<\/b> (played by Tommy Lee Jones), a rough-hewn US sergeant who falls in love with her and asks her to marry him. Aware that the then-South Vietnam\u2019s forces are weakening and the country may collapse at any time, she moves to San Diego, California with Steve in 1970 in spite of her mother\u2019s opposition.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\nImage credit: <\/span>IMDB\/<\/span>Robert Richardson<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

The later part of the movie revolves around Le Ly\u2019s disoriented life in modern California where anti-Vietnam war protests are at boiling point. Even though she doesn\u2019t lack any material things there like how she used to, she\u2019s looked down upon by her husband\u2019s family as a girl from the land where US soldiers are being slaughtered. Meanwhile, Le Ly is viewed by her countrymen in her homeland as a traitor because of her escape to the US.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\nImage credit: <\/span>IMDB\/<\/span>Robert Richardson<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Around this time, the couple\u2019s marriage gradually falls apart.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Vietnam War has taken a big toll on Steve\u2019s mental health, causing him to become delusional and comm<\/span>it suicide in the end, survived by 24-year-old Le Ly and their sons.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\nImage credit: <\/span>LA Times<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

After the war ends, Le Ly brings her children back to Vietnam to show them her roots.<\/span><\/p>\n

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2. Heaven and Earth<\/em> is part of Oliver Stone\u2019s Vietnam War trilogy<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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\nA scene from Born On The Fourth Of July<\/em>
\nImage credit: <\/span>IMDB\/Robert Richardson<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Heaven and Earth<\/em> is not award-winning director Oliver Stone\u2019s first war film.<\/span><\/p>\n

Having served in the Vietnam War himself, Oliver Stone told the stories of his battles as a young, patriotic US soldier in Vietnam through <\/span>Platoon<\/span><\/em>, released in 1986.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1989, he released <\/span>Born On The Fourth Of July<\/span><\/em>, viewing the Vietnam War through the eyes of a traumatized veteran facing the harrowing aftermath of his time in Vietnam. This movie is based on the autobiography of Ron Kovic, a US anti-war activist and veteran. It won four Golden Globe Awards for Best Motion Picture \u2013 Drama, <\/span>Best Actor in a Motion Picture \u2013 Drama<\/span>, Best Director, and Best Screenplay<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\nImage credit: <\/span><\/em>Wikipedia\/Robert Richardson<\/span><\/em>
\n<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

After reading Le Ly Hayslip\u2019s memoirs, Oliver Stone decided to portray the Vietnam War through the often underrepresented perspective of an ordinary woman who had no interest in the war but was caught up in it.<\/span><\/p>\n

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3. The author, Le Ly Hayslip, is now a successful Californian businessman<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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\nLe Ly Hayslip<\/span>
\n<\/span>Image credit: <\/span><\/em>Goodreads<\/span><\/em>
\n<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Despite her harrowing adulthood in Vietnam and painful experiences when she first resettled in the US, writer Le Ly Hayslip, born Phung Thi Le Ly, rose above her circumstances and triumphed in the end.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Da Nang-born writer portrayed her tumultuous adulthood as a peasant girl in her first memoir, <\/span>W<\/span><\/i>hen Heaven and Earth Changed Places: A Vietnamese Woman’s Journey from War to Peace<\/span><\/em>, in 1989. Four years after the book\u2019s success, she released another memoir called <\/span>Child of War, Woman of Peace<\/span><\/em>,<\/em> in which she talks more about her dealing with the alien US culture when she first came to her new country. Both of these books were adapted into the film <\/span>Heaven and Earth<\/span><\/em>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\nImage credit: <\/span>NY Times<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/a>Le Ly Hayslip, her late husband Ed Munro, and their sons.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

When in the US, she had two marriages which both left her widowed. Thanks to her strong will and resourcefulness, she became a successful entrepreneur and later on founded the East Meets West Foundation, a charity organization dedicated to helping vulnerable Vietnamese children and bridging the cultural gaps between Vietnam and the US.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\nLe Ly Hayslip on a trip to Vietnam<\/em>
\nImage credit: <\/span>Wikidata<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

In 1995, she was awarded by the California State Assembly for her humanitarian and reconciliation initiatives. <\/span><\/p>\n

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4. Hiep Thi Le, the protagonist\u2019s actress, went to the casting for fun<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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\nImage credit: <\/span><\/em>IMDB\/<\/span>Robert Richardson<\/span><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Sharing a lot in common with her character Le Ly, it was no wonder that the untrained Hiep Thi Le<\/strong> (1971-2017) delivered a spectacular performance with her natural acting and charisma.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A medical student at the time, Hiep Thi Le went to <\/span>Heaven and Earth<\/span><\/em>\u2019s auditions<\/em>, which around 16,000 Vietnamese-Americans attended, just for fun.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy cousin heard about these auditions for a movie,\u201d Hiep Thi Le explained. \u201cI just went with a friend to see what it was about.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

After five months of screen testing, she won the starring role.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI thought she was charismatic,\u201d Oliver Stone shared his first impression of Hiep Thi Le.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hiep Thi Le was also a refugee herself, born in Vietnam and having left for the US at age 9. Interestingly, her hometown was also in Central Vietnam.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\nImage credit: <\/span>Hiep Thi Le<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

After her resounding success with <\/span>Heaven and Earth<\/span><\/em>, Hiep Thi Le didn\u2019t focus on expanding her acting career but chose to become a restaurateur instead. She opened The China Beach Bistro, a Vietnamese restaurant in Los Angeles, in 2002. After 10 years, Hiep Thi Le closed the restaurant and opened another one called Le Cellier, serving French-Vietnamese fusion cuisines.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the age of 46, Hiep Thi Le passed away from stomach cancer in Los Angeles.<\/span><\/p>\n

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5. The movie\u2019s soundtrack won a Golden Globe Award<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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\nImage credit: <\/span><\/em>Amazon\/Domo Records, Inc<\/span><\/em>
\n<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Composed by illustrious Japanese composer Kitaro, <\/span>Heaven and Earth<\/span><\/i>\u2019s soundtrack of the same name won a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score.
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\nThe composition boasts orchestral resonance and chant-like elements, featuring a harmonious combination between Vietnamese folk tunes and Chinese erhu <\/em>music.<\/span><\/p>\n

You can listen to the epic movie tunes <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Heaven and Earth<\/em>: a look into the underrepresented perspective of a Vietnamese woman<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Heaven and Earth<\/em> is a recollection of Le Ly Hayslip\u2019s tumultuous adulthood in Vietnam, where her home, family, and personal life were heavily damaged by the war.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead of addressing the major strategies or matters of conscience of the involved parties that caused the Vietnam War to end the way it did, the movie delves into the often-neglected perspective of ordinary Vietnamese people.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These people, such as Le Ly Hayslip, just want an ordinary life on the land of their ancestors. However, the war deprived them of this birthright and set them on a new course as refugees. <\/span>
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\n<\/span>Her memoir and the movie also show us her admirable characteristic as a Vietnamese refugee who, though losing everything and having to start all over again more than once, still stood tall and triumphed eventually.<\/span><\/p>\n

Also check out:<\/span><\/p>\n