SAIGON (OFF LIMITS)
US, 1988, 97 minutes, Colour.
Willem Dafoe, Gregory Hines, Fred Ward, Amanda Pays, Scott Glenn, Keith David.
Directed by Christopher Crowe.
Saigon is a police buddy thriller. However, the difference is that it is set in Saigon in 1968. It is an ugly picture of American-Vietnamese? relationships, the waging of the war, the cultural and racial clashes between the two allies.
The film is basically a murder mystery, the deaths of many Vietnamese prostitutes, the suspect being an American officer. Willem Dafoe (Platoon, Last Temptation of Christ) and Gregory Hines (Cotton Club, Tap) are the two MPs on a tour of duty in the city of Saigon. Scott Glenn gives a brief, almost over-the-top performance, as a maniacal officer (with echoes of Marlon Brando in Apocalypse Now). Fred Ward is the genial officer in charge of investigations, Amanda Pays is a nun - and the presentation of nuns combines the traditional style as well as the more robust ministry of nuns in a city like Saigon.
The film was co-written and directed by Christopher Crowe (Disorganised Crime).
1. Police thriller, murder mystery? The Vietnam war? Race antagonisms? 1968?
2. Thai locations for Saigon, the city, the world of the police and the military, the ugliness of the bars and prostitution? The convent? Charity and social work? The overview of Saigon 1968?
3. Atmosphere, locations, darkness and light, night and day? The musical score?
4. The introduction to the situation and the killings, the pre-credits killing, the bars, drugs, chases, racial clashes, the role of authorities, the targeting of investigations, leads, the Viet Cong, the nuns and their work, action and the truth?
5. The sketch of the military police and their work, clues, on tour, suspects, the officer and the investigations? The chases in the city? The leads out of the city? The angers of the two men? Their dislike of the Viet Cong? Black and white tensions? The dislike of the Americans?
6. McGriff? in himself, a pleasant man, his racial antagonism towards the Vietnamese and his clash with the officer, his friendship and working with Albany, his conscience, ability with violence? The commanding officer and the investigation? Going to the clubs, seeing the dead women, their child ren? Their clash with the men in the bars? His going with Sister Nicole to the club and his embarrassment? The lead on Armstrong, following him, going out into action, seeing him and hearing him, the men obeying his words, the plane flight and his throwing the Viet Cong out, his killing himself? The lack of clues, trying to identify the killer? The officer commanding and having to leave Saigon? The assassination attempt in the street? Escaping to the convent? His admiration for Sister Nicole, friendship with her, sharing her grief? Her taking her to the Viet Cong woman, the irony of discovering the truth? The melodramatic return to the convent, saving Nicole, shooting the commanding officer? Staying for her taking of final vows? Leaving? The effect of the experience on him?
7. Albany, cynical, black, experiencing racism, his dislike of the Vietnamese? His preoccupation with sex? The murders, doing his job, buddies with Mc Griff? The antagonism towards the Vietnamese officer? The experience with the commanding officer, Armstrong, the experience in the plane? The assassination attack in the street, his reaction, injuries, going to the convent and playing mock-basketball? The end, the confrontation with the officer? Leaving, not going to the vows ceremony, detached, the effect of war on him?
8. The commanding officer and audiences first seeing him with the baby? His role, targeting the officers? His being on the spot, genial, supportive of Mc Griff and Albany? His control? The confrontation with the Vietnamese officer, the arrival of the helicopter? Targeting Armstrong? Sending the two back to the U.S.? His own personal angers, confessing to Nicole in the church? The explanation of his bitterness, madness, keeping control, murders? The confrontation with Mc Griff and his death?
9. Armstrong, the career officer, his future, sado-masochistic behaviour, meeting the MPs, explaining that he was God for his men, the flight and the interrogation, wanting courage, pushing out the Viet Cong, the alternatives of his telling the truth or not, hurling himself out of the plane?
10. Sister Nicole, at work with the women, helping the MPs, at the convent, teaching, wearing the habit or not, taking the MPs to the bar, with the striptease show, her knowledge of sexuality and the practices of the women, her apology for trying to embarrass Mc Griff? Her contacts? The grief? The confrontation with the officer, his confession to her, the shooting and her fear? The tender scenes with Mc Griff? Her commitment to he religious order, the taking of vows?
11. The Vietnamese authorities, their clash, tense situations in the street, American helicopters, rivalry?
12. Americans in Vietnam - a colony, the mutual dislike, the waging of the war, its, not being won, the role of the police, American exploitation and corruption?
13. The tensions between black and white, the touches of racism amongst the Americans?
14. A satisfying murder mystery, turgid atmosphere, police and buddies - a symbol of Americans in Saigon, 1968?
