Heaven & Earth

In 1989, Oliver Stone directed "Born on the Fourth of July," an adaptation of an embittered Vietnam veteran's memoirs. His next film changed perspectives, if not politics: "Heaven and Earth," out now via limited edition blu-ray, is an adaptation of Le Ly Hayslip, a Vietnamese woman who grew up surrounded by the same war. And though she's "rescued" by a soldier (Tommy Lee Jones) who brings her to America, her psychological scars may never heal. Like in Stone's other pictures. like in life, the war comes home with those who escape it.

Le Ly's character is weak - not by Stone's design, but by society's. Both in Vietnam and in America, the narrative is driven by the characters who surround her. She can only narrate as the winds of war push her alongside its own whims - to prison camps, to adulterous husbands, to foreign lands. The film, dedicated to Stone's mother, is a "woman's picture," in the vein of the works of Douglas Sirk and Kenji Mizoguchi. "Heaven and Earth" belongs to a long tradition of films about woman who were denied the right to control their own narratives - and who claimed that right anyway.

The great cinematographer Robert Richardson ("Inglourious Basterds") photographs the film, elevating it far beyond the ranks of the traditional biopic. His use of color is attuned to Le Ly's mindset, utilizing a Technicolor-esque palette when she's entranced (a vibrant poppy field, or during her first look at a supermarket,) and muted imagery as tragic circumstances overtake her. Flashbacks to her traumatic past intrude throughout, in black-and-white. Richardson slowly saps the film of brightness, until even the sequences that are "in color" are dominated by harsh lights and dense shadows - which then blend seamlessly into the monochromatic flashbacks. A visual representation of psychological pandamonium.

Twilight Time's latest release of an Oliver Stone film (they've already released "Salvador,") brings with it many extra features, ported from prior releases. There's roughly 25 minutes of deleted scenes (featuring some top-shelf work from Tommy Lee Jones, and a much more in-depth look at his character's home life,) and an audio commentary (Stone's are always a must-listen: He's impassioned about his films, and is an encyclopedia of crazy on-set stories.) And the visual transfer, while hardly the company's sharpest, translates the wide-ranging palette of Richardson's cinematography. This may be one of Stone's lesser-known films, but this disc reveals it to be among his most beautiful.

"Heaven and Earth"
Blu-ray
Screenarchives.com
$29.95