Phillip Noyce

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I learned that he directed <A HREF="id1881.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Bone Collector"><U><B>Bone Collector</B></U></A><A HREF="id1881.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Bone Collector"><U> </U></A>with Denzel Washington, and two Harrison Ford films (<A HREF="id1882.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Patroit Games"><U><B>Patriot Games</B></U></A> & <A HREF="id1883.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Clear and Present Danger"><U><B>Clear and Present Danger</B></U></A><A HREF="id1883.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Clear and Present Danger"><U>)</U></A>. Now, after seeing <A HREF="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/20031Q/id1961.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/20031Q/id"><U><B>The Quiet American</B></U></A>, I guess I can declare him an overnight success…who has been around for quite awhile<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#9999FF" FACE="Arial" >.</FONT><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#9999FF" FACE="Wingdings" ><B>J</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> Any time a director releases two films in one year that both make my "best of the year" list, with one being in the Top 10, I get excited. I'm looking forward to seeing new work that he produces as well as going back to look at some undiscovered gems on the shelves.</div> <bR> <div> While the former films I've seen by Noyce are of a more commercial variety, the two new ones are art-house with a subtle (for many) political message.  <A HREF="id1799.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="RabittProof Fence"><U><B>Rabbit-Proof Fence</B></U></A> is a film set in Australia in the 1930's, that follows the trail of three young girls who walk 1,200 miles to become reunited with their mothers after being kidnapped and taken to a reservation because they have both Aborigine and Caucasian blood, labeled half-caste. </div> <bR> <div> In 1931the three girls are taken to a religious camp to be reeducated in the ways of the white culture. This is a permanent solution, whereby the girls are to never have any contact with their mothers again. Fourteen-year-old Molly learned survival skills with her Aborigine family when they went hunting. She knows how to track animals and survive off of the land. One Sunday morning when Molly and her sister Daisy and cousin Gracie are left behind to dump the communal urine bucket, she notices an approaching storm and decides now is the time to make an escape. Even the expert tracker Moodoo will have difficulty finding them because the rain will cover their tracks.</div> <bR> <div> Amazingly, with a combination of a few stokes of luck and considerable skill, the three girls manage to evade their pursuers. </div> <bR> <div> Seeing two of the three girls at the end of the film, now old women, is an emotional event that also speaks to the desire, spirit, creativity and love of these young girls, doing what seemed to be the impossible. Most "road pictures" are silly and irrelevant. <B>Rabbit Proof Fence</B> is meaningful, educational, heartwarming and unforgettable.</div> <bR> <div> <B>The Quiet American</B> is unquestionably one of Michael Caine's finest performances. Miramax Studios was reluctant to release the film until it did well with test audiences, and Caine himself said that he would work to promote the film and if it proved to be dead on arrival, to participate in the funeral.</div> <bR> <div> In this film, set in Vietnam in the early 1950's, we see the emerging war between the north and the south facilitated by the French government (<A HREF="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/2002/id1768.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/2002/id17"><U>see </U></A><A HREF="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/2002/id1768.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/2002/id17"><U><B>We Were Soldiers</B></U></A> as a companion piece to how the US entered this war). Caine is there as a British journalist who is having an affair with a Vietnamese woman, who while she loves him, sees him as her ticket out of the country. That is until Brendan Fraser, an American, comes with medical aid to a splinter military group. It's love at first sight and when he is willing to marry her because Caine can not, since his Catholic wife might not give him a divorce, Caine stands to lose the one thing in his life that means the most to him, his relationship with her. While this is a love story, it's also the background to how the US got involved in the war in Vietnam, why the French left and an up close and personal view of terrorism along with how it may or may not be implemented.</div> <bR> <div> Clearly Noyce has something to say, and both of these films are unforgettable in how they address the dark side of human nature in a way that avoids the evil of overt oppressive practices, such as the Holocaust. Both provide insight into the politics of race and power. It's not too much of a stretch to tie the controversy of Trent Lott and the not too distant past of civil rights in the US to what was, and to a degree is still going on in Australia. One difference is that down under, they have yet to even apologize or acknowledge the wrongs that were done. By comparison, Lott is light years ahead. </div> <bR> <div> Aborigines only got the right to vote in 1967, and using the major indicators of income gap, infant death mortality, and life expectancy, Australia has a long way to go to make the progress in race relations accomplished in America. Noyce acknowledges there are Aborigines who have integrated into society and done well, but based upon his message, some type of affirmative action, if not reparations, is required to compensate for damage done to the "stolen generations," what the children were called who were kidnapped.</div> <bR> <div> Of greater concern to the world is the giant slide the US may be on as the single super power, which may, as in Vietnam, get into a war with Iraq that has long-term consequences. The aftermath may exact a financial and human toll that is very hard to predict, and judged after the fact, to be unacceptably high. </div> <bR> <div> Of the films released in 2002, which opened my eyes and made me better understand and appreciate the worldwide impact of the Civil Rights Movement in the US in the 1960's, these two films by Noyce stand out. They join the movie <A HREF="id1659.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Bloody Sunday"><U><B>Bloody Sunday</B></U></A> (my top pick for the year) as not to be missed. I thought that the Martin Luther King, Jr. phenomenon was just something going on in the US. Perhaps the issues were too close to home. The Movement, however, had an impact in countries such as Ireland and Australia, and without a doubt, the public's reaction to speak out against the war in Vietnam. </div> <bR> <div> I'm not a statesman with knowledge anywhere close to Henry Kissinger and Colin Powell's. However, having a measure of common sense, I know enough to be concerned that the war on terrorism may need a sharper focus so that we are not trying to fight North Korea, Iraq, Al Queda, and who knows what other groups or countries at the same time. No one's resources are unlimited (just look at the sudden reversal of fortune in state and city treasuries around the nation). Peace is better than war. If we have to fight, let's pick our battles.</div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="621" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="617"><div> George O. Singleton  © 2003</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="617"><div> <A HREF="mailto:Reelmoviec@aol.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:Reelmoviec@aol.com"><U><U>Reelmoviec@aol.com</U></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>