Set in the early 1950s in Saigon, Vietnam, during the end of the First Indochina War, on one level The Quiet American is a love story about the triangle that develops between Thomas Fowler (Michael Caine), a British journalist in his fifties; a young American idealist, supposedly an aid worker, named Alden Pyle (Brendan Fraser); and Phuong (Do Thi Hai Yen), a Vietnamese girl. On another level it is also about the political turmoil and growing American involvement that led to the Vietnam War. Thomas Fowler (Michael Caine), who narrates the story, is involved in the war only as an observer, apart from one crucial instant. Fowler loves Vietnam. Pyle (Brendan Fraser), who represents America and its policies in Vietnam, is an OSS (Office of Strategic Services) operative sent to steer the war according to America's interests, and is passionately devoted to the ideas of York Harding, an American foreign policy theorist who said that what Vietnam needed was a "third player" to take the place of both the colonialists and the Vietnamese rebels and restore order. Officially, Pyle is posted to Vietnam as the Economic Aid Mission. Fowler doesn't know that Pyle is a spy. Fowler had met Pyle at the hotel Continental in Saigon. Fowler had a Vietnamese mistress Phuong (Do Thi Hai Yen). Pyle wanted to understand why the French were losing and the communists winning in Vietnam. Pyle met Phuong via Fowler. Hinh (Tzi Ma) is Fowler's assistant. Fowler knows that Hinh has friends in the communist circles. Fowler is being asked by his paper to return to London, so he is looking for a fresh story that can justify his presence in Vietnam. Pyle starts flirting with Phuong and it is clear that she is also more than interested in him. Fowler tells Phuong that his paper is asking him to return to London, which makes her insecure. For a story, Fowler travels to Phat Diem, a communist insurgent area. He finds Pyle there as well. Together they reach a village, where everyone was killed by the communists. The entire village eradicated. In Phat Diem Pyle admits to Fowler that he has feelings for Phuong and promises that he wont act on them without Fowler's knowledge. After they return to Saigon, Pyle meets Phuong in front of Fowler and proposes to her. This angers Fowler. He tells Phuong later that he has asked his wife for a divorce. Due to his story on Phat Diem, Fowler is granted an extension to stay in Vietnam. This third player was plainly meant to be America, and so Pyle sets about creating a "Third Force" against the Viet Minh by using a Vietnamese splinter group headed by corrupt militia leader General The (Quang Hai) (based on the actual Trinh Minh The). Fowler visits General The's garrison for an interview and is surprised to find Pyle there. Fowler suspects that General The is getting supplies from an unknown power and was responsible for the massacre at Phat Diem. Pyle rides back to Saigon with Fowler. The road is controlled by the communists at night. Fowler's car runs out of petrol, and they take shelter in a watch tower. As the communists descend upon the road, an alert Pyle saves them even as the car and watch-tower are destroyed. Once Fowler and Pyle reach Saigon, Fowler asks Hinh to investigate about who is arming General The. The army he has is not small and he definitely has a big power behind him. Fowler tells Phuong that his wife had agreed to give him a divorce. But Pyle reads the letter and finds that Fowler's wife has made no such promise. He reveals the same to Phuong. Hinh finds that a new shipment of materials has arrived for General The. Fowler and Hinh investigate and finds several crates of Dialacton (a medicine being used by Pyle's mission) in American marked boxes. Pyle has stolen Fowler's Vietnamese mistress Phuong, promising her marriage and security. Fowler returns home to find Phoung gone, and later finds her living with Pyle. Pyle's arming of The's militia with American weaponry leads to a series of terrorist bombings in Saigon. Fowler was at the location of the bombings. Right after the blasts he sees Pyle arriving at the scene and speaking in fluent Vietnamese. Fowler now suspects that Pyle is a spy and is supporting General The. Upon reading further, Fowler figures out that Dialacton is used in the manufacture of plastic explosives. He connects Pyle directly to the bombings. These bombings, dishonestly blamed on the Communists in order to further American outrage, kill a number of innocent people (30 dead), including women and children. When Fowler finds out about Pyle's involvement in the bombings, he takes one definitive action to seal all of their fates. He indirectly agrees to let his assistant, Hinh, and his Communist cohorts confront Pyle; when Pyle tries to flee, Hinh fatally stabs him. Phuong subsequently returns to Fowler, and while the local French police commander Inspector Vigot (Rade Serbedzija) suspects Fowler's role in Pyle's murder, he has no evidence and does not pursue the matter. Eventually the French are defeated, and Vietnam is split between North ruled by Communists and the South ruled by capitalists. Communists then declare war to unite Vietnam. US gets directly involved in Vietnam, supporting the South army.
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