Heaven & Earth

Oliver Stone’s Heaven & Earth is based upon the books When Heaven And Earth Changed Places by Le Ly Hayslip with Jay Wurtis and Child Of War, Woman Of Peace by Le Ly Hayslip with James Hayslip. This is Stone’s third film about the Vietnam War and its profound impact on the collective psyches of the American and Vietnamese societies. It tells the story of Vietnam through the Buddhist-belief eyes of Le Ly (Hiep Thi Le), as her rural childhood is interrupted with the outbreak of war and the villagers are caught between the Viet Cong and anti-Communist Vietnamese. Le Ly flees to Saigon where circumstances force her into abject poverty. At this point she meets Steve Butler (Tommy Lee Jones), who takes her home to America, where she becomes aware of his emotional instability, a direct result of his wartime activities, and has to deal with her fate.