Taglines: From Vietnam to America, one woman’s journey from hope, to love, to discovery.
Heaven and Earth movie storyline. Le Ly is a girl growing up in a Vietnamese village. Her life changes when the communist insurgents show up in the village to first fight the forces of France and then the United States. During the American involvement, Le Ly is captured and tortured by South Vietnamese government troops, and later raped by the Viet Cong because they suspect that she is a traitor. After the rape, her relationship with her village is destroyed, and she and her family are forced to move.
Her family moves to Saigon and she is employed by a family there. The master of the household misleads her into believing that he genuinely cares for her, and she falls for him and gets pregnant by him. The master’s wife becomes enraged and Le Ly’s whole family is forced to move back to their former province. There she meets Steve Butler, a Gunnery Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps. When she first meets him she is not interested in a boyfriend or marriage, having been through so much suffering. Steve falls for Le Ly and treats her very well, making a big difference in her life while in Vietnam.
The two leave Vietnam and move to the United States. Their life together begins well, but years of killing and life in the bush have taken their toll on Steve who becomes uncontrollably violent. The relationship falters, despite Le Ly’s attempts to reconcile with Steve. After an impassioned plea by Le Ly for Steve to come back to her, he commits suicide.
Heaven & Earth is a 1993 American biographical war drama film written and directed by Oliver Stone, and starring Tommy Lee Jones, Haing S. Ngor, Joan Chen, and Hiep Thi Le. It is the third and final film in Stone’s Vietnam War trilogy, which also includes Platoon (1986) and Born on the Fourth of July (1989). The film was based on the books When Heaven and Earth Changed Places and Child of War, Woman of Peace, which Le Ly Hayslip wrote about her experiences during and after the Vietnam War.
Heaven and Earth movie trailer.
Heaven and Earth (1993)
Directed by: Oliver Stone
Starring: Hiep Thi Le, Tommy Lee Jones, Haing S. Ngor, Joan Chen, Supak Pititam, Michelle Vynh Le, Liem Whatley, Dustin Nguyen, Thuan K. Nguyen, Lan Nguyen Calderon
Screenplay by: Oliver Stone
Production Design by: Victor Kempster
Cinematography by: Robert Richardson
Film Editing by: David Brenner, Sally Menke
Costume Design by: Ha Nguyen
Set Decoration by: Ted Glass
Music by: Kitarô
MPAA Rating: R for violence, language and sexuality.
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: December 25, 1993
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