In a small Vietnamese village torn apart by war, a young woman faces unimaginable horrors before deciding to escape to the city. There, she encounters a compassionate Marine who offers her hope and a chance at a new life, igniting the possibility of a future together.
Mr. Stone tells this tale vigorously, but he has the wrong cinematic vocabulary for his heroine's essentially passive experience.
– Janet Maslin,
New York Times,
5 Jun 2004
rotten:
Heaven has so many themes, ranging from Buddhist spirituality to feminism, it ends up with none.
– Desson Thomson,
Washington Post,
16 Nov 2001
fresh:
This is the first time [Stone] has tried to place himself inside a woman's imagination, and that he succeeds so well is due partly...to an extraordinary performance by Hiep Thi Le in the leading role.
– Roger Ebert,
Chicago Sun-Times,
30 Oct 2001
fresh:
Heaven and Earth has the epic scope one would expect from a film of this magnitude, but it lacks much of the narrative strength of Stone's first two Vietnamese tales.