Synopsis :

Au coeur de la jungle Vietnamienne, le soldat Rat (Kiefer Sutherland) évoque une histoire tellement improbable qu’elle ne peut être que vraie. Elle débute le jour où un médecin de guerre convainc sa petite amie Marianne de le rejoindre. Sa venue permet à toute l’équipe de médecins, meurtris par les atrocités de la guerre, de regoûter aux plaisirs de la vie. Cependant, confrontée aux réalités de la guerre Marianne change…

« la convaincre de venir au Vietnam fut facile.

La convaincre de partir impossible… »

Le film :

- Le film est inspiré d’une histoire courte de Tim O’Brien, « Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong » tiré de son livre , The Things They  Carried.

Scénariste du film : Thomas Michael Donnelly

- Bien que ce film soit populaire, il n’existe qu’en VHS. Une pétition a été mis en place sur IMDb pour qu’il soit ré-éditer en DVD.

4 novembre 1998 – Promo du film a soldier’s sweetheart

"Late Night with Conan O'Brien"

Kiefer Sutherland & Lawrence Gilliard Jr.

The Four Tops « Reach Out I’ll be there » (1966):

Kiefer talks about wanting to be a musician, just not able to play well! Talks about desire to do a movie with his dad, and how the logistics of that complicate things- bet he did not think it would take 17 years after this interview to set up.

Charlie Rose: KIEFER SUTHERLAND is here. The son of two highly regarded actors, he first came to audiences' attention in the film, Stand by Me. Since then, he has gone on to appear in such highly acclaimed films as At Close Range, A Few Good Men, and A Time to Kill. His latest film, A Soldier's Sweetheart, follows the life a medic during the height of the Vietnam War. It premieres this Sunday night at 8p.m. on Showtime. I'm pleased to have him here. Welcome to the broadcast.00:29 Kiefer Sutherland: Thank you very, very much.00:32Charlie Rose: I just thought about this as we were talking,how many-- I don't know how many occasions this has happened ofhaving on one broadcast, at separate appearance, if forindividual reasons -- father and son, or daughter and son, or,you know, daughter and daughter, father and daughter.00:45 Kiefer Sutherland: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.00:47Charlie Rose:Yes.00:50 Kiefer Sutherland: No, I knew he had-- I knew my father hadcome on and done the show a few weeks ago.We were talking about it earlier.You know, it's-- well, in talking about the show, it'ssuch a nice format to actually be able sit down and talkwithout a-- without a kind of preplanned interview, andactually be afforded the time to allow someone like him to talkabout the incredibly long career that he's had--01:12Charlie Rose:Creative process, yeah.01:14 Kiefer Sutherland: --and everything that he's gonethrough with it.So, it's a nice-- it's a nice thing to happen.01:22Charlie Rose:Because of him and because of your mother, wasit inevitable that, you know, I mean, that you would not end updoing anything else?01:29 Kiefer Sutherland: I don't know.I've thought about it for a long time.No, I wanted to be a musician.I just couldn't play very well.01:39Charlie Rose:That'll always stop you, won't it?01:41 Kiefer Sutherland: Yeah, it stopped me in that.01:43Charlie Rose:Yeah, that's right.01:45 Kiefer Sutherland: You know, when I was-- when I was-- when Iwas starting out I used to have this questionalways burning in me.Was I a fake?Was I a fraud?Am I actually approaching this because of areal love for it?01:55Charlie Rose:Yeah.01:57 Kiefer Sutherland: Or was it just the obviousthing for me to do?And it's-- over the years, the question kind-of started to goaway because I actually do believe that my intentions tobecome an actor came from a-- came from a very pure place.But certainly having my mother, who is an incredibly successfuland talented theater actress in Canada, and then later onunderstanding the depth of my father's talent, certainlyhaving that around you has to have some kind of impact.So, I certainly acknowledge that in my life, but I rememberthe choice that I made when I-- when I really wantedto get into acting.My mother was doing Virginia Woolf at theNational Arts Center.02:29Charlie Rose:Yeah.02:31 Kiefer Sutherland: And I used to always watch her comeon-stage, and I used to worry, ''Oh, God, hit that mark'' or''Don't trip'' or ''Don't forget a line'' in this panic.And I remember halfway through that show I hadforgot about all that.I had forgot that it was my mother.02:42Charlie Rose:Yeah.02:44 Kiefer Sutherland: And I was watching this character.And I was watching Martha.And, when the play was over, I was supposed to go backstage andmeet her and the theater emptied out.And I was sitting there for the longest time.And I couldn't believe that I had been fooled,that I had been tricked.And that's what started me thinking, ''This is really cool.This is really interesting.'' There's-- I know more about atleast what to try and achieve with acting than Idid anything else.And so it became a logical step at that point for me.03:10Charlie Rose:You've worked with her on stage?03:12 Kiefer Sutherland: Yes.Yeah, we did-- We did The Glass Menagerie together at the RoyalAlex for four months.03:17Charlie Rose:Yeah.And you've never worked with your dad?03:21 Kiefer Sutherland: We've never worked together.We were in A Time to Kill together, but wenever had a scene--03:26Charlie Rose:There was no scene together.03:27 Kiefer Sutherland: No, no. No.It was funny.I mean--03:32Charlie Rose:That was a great role that he had.03:33 Kiefer Sutherland: My mother could go do a play a year andthat would never be an issue.My father and I-- once you commit something to film, itlasts forever.And so there's this-- there's this real hope that the thingyou choose to do has some weight, is important.03:43Charlie Rose:Yeah.03:45 Kiefer Sutherland: And, again, it's alsodifficult just becauseof the timing.You know, well, he books things sometimes two,three years in advance.And so to try and, you know, find the perfect project andfind out when both of our schedules aren't blocked is notas easy to do as I was hoping.04:01Charlie Rose:The relationship is good?04:03 Kiefer Sutherland: Yes, yes.Yeah, yeah.04:07Charlie Rose:Do you go to him for advice?Or to-- for--04:10 Kiefer Sutherland: We haven't spent a lot of time in the lastwhile together.He's really-- he's really started to make a consciouschoice to work a lot.All his children are grown up, and he's really-- he's put inhis time, and now he's going to work for himself.04:22Charlie Rose:Yeah.04:24 Kiefer Sutherland: And I think that's a great thing for him.04:26Charlie Rose:He does voice-overs, too, doesn't he?04:28 Kiefer Sutherland: He doeseverything. Yeah.He does everything.In fact, I did my first voice-over.I did a voice-over for Sam Adams beer.04:37Charlie Rose:Yeah?04:39 Kiefer Sutherland: And it had never occurred to me to evereven pursue anything like that, but he was having so much fundoing them that I wanted to give it a try.And he has such a great voice presence.I'll be in the shower listening to the radio and all of asudden-- I don't-- you know, I know it's aVolvo ad long before--04:52Charlie Rose:Yeah.04:54 Kiefer Sutherland: Before they mention the name just 'cause Ican tell his voice so clearly.04:57Charlie Rose:Yeah.A Time to Kill, which he played a terrific part-- I mean, Iremember because I'm a lawyer by trainingand loved the characterhe played.The character you played-- was there genuine concern-- I mean,you did it so well and the malevolence was so deep--05:11 Kiefer Sutherland: It was huge concern.05:13Charlie Rose:I read these stories that there was genuineconcern that people wouldn't separate reality from film.05:17 Kiefer Sutherland: Well, I mean, it'salarming but they don't.I mean, I had just come off of a film where I brutally attackedSally Field and killed her daughter, and I guess on thejoke side people would say, you know, ''I don't like that actorbecause he attacked the flying nun and things like that.'' Butthat combined with A Time to Kill was a very difficult choicefor me to make.And ultimately I made the choice because of my politics.I felt that it was impossible to do a film about racism unlessyou showed racism for what it was.05:48Charlie Rose:At its rawest and ugliest.05:50 Kiefer Sutherland: And so you can't really cop out in thatarea, and you really have to attack it.And, yeah, there are some residual bad side effects for mepersonally as an actor because I think it does go misunderstood.I remember at my wedding Forest Whitaker came up to me, and hehad seen Eye for an Eye and knew about A Time to Kill.He says, ''Man, you must be scared.'' And I said, ''Why?''I actually wasn't thinking in those terms.He said, ''You must be scared.'' And he and Michael T.Williamson took me out to a bunch of restaurants where a lotof their friends hang out and just tried to make sure thatpeople knew that that character was not me.06:21Charlie Rose:Sort-of showing off that ''thisis one of our friends.''06:25 Kiefer Sutherland: Yes.Yeah, basically. Yeah.06:29Charlie Rose:This is not the guy you saw in the movie.06:32 Kiefer Sutherland: Yeah, yeah. Yeah.06:36Charlie Rose:Tell me about A Soldier's Sweetheart.What's interesting about it from-- I mean, having seen itand seen the story which I don't want to tell because of-- youdon't want to tell the ending, I don't think, forthis kind of movie.06:47 Kiefer Sutherland: Yeah, and it's one of those films it'svery hard to talk about at all because--06:51Charlie Rose:Exactly.06:54 Kiefer Sutherland: --so much of it is like that.06:56Charlie Rose:But what's interesting to me is that itis-- and it's gotten interesting-- I mean, veryinteresting reviews.I saw John Leonard do a very nice pieceon CBS Sunday Morning.There are other people have talked about it.I mean, it-- this is relatively a small film on Showtime cablerelative to A Time to Kill, for example, with all the WarnerBrothers, whoever does those--07:12 Kiefer Sutherland: Yeah.07:14Charlie Rose:--behind it. Yet people are taking notice of it.07:16 Kiefer Sutherland: Yeah.07:18Charlie Rose:What is it, do you think, that this film has?07:19 Kiefer Sutherland: Well--07:21Charlie Rose:Other than the fact it's about a woman inVietnam rather than just anotherVietnam story about bravery and cowardice and--07:26 Kiefer Sutherland: Well, I think-- you know, I-- if you take alook at films like Full Metal Jacket orPlatoon, which are phenomenalfilms and truly representative of the Vietnam War, this filmhad a lot more of a-- almost a World War IIsensibility. The innocence--07:36Charlie Rose:Yeah.07:38 Kiefer Sutherland: And so it attacked kind of an area of theVietnam War that we don't see a lot.And we're reminded that the 17- and 18-, 19-year-old kids thatwere there were very innocent.07:46Charlie Rose:Yeah.07:48 Kiefer Sutherland: And I think, again, it also deals with theperspective of two men's perception of whata woman can handle--07:54Charlie Rose:Yeah.07:56 Kiefer Sutherland: --and what she should be allowed to handle.And that's a universal topic regardless of Vietnam--08:00Charlie Rose:Yeah, (crosstalk)--08:01 Kiefer Sutherland: And I think that was what was reallyinteresting for me individually about the character was that mycharacter not only believe thatmen and women were equal in their abilities, but actuallywanted it that way.And I thought that that was a wonderful perception to have asa character and a really, really positive thingto say in the film.08:19Charlie Rose:Without talking about the end, give me the storyline here, which is -- in fact -- that there arethese young medics--08:25 Kiefer Sutherland: Well, there are these young medics, andthey were actually-- they weren't doctors.They were a way-station in between the front lineand the MASH units.08:33Charlie Rose:Right.08:35 Kiefer Sutherland: And they would basically take thecritically wounded, try and stop the bleeding so that they couldthen make it to the hospital.So, they had an incredibly high casualty rate.And they also did very, very brutal surgeries.They would do amputations.And so the Viet Cong would never attack them because the moresoldiers that were sent home from the war that were not deadbut were actually amputees that--08:58Charlie Rose:Reminds them when they get home ofcasualties of war.09:03 Kiefer Sutherland: Yeah, yeah. Yeah.And so that had a great effect on the political tide turning inthe United States against the Vietnam War.And so they left these stations alone.And it's about a young man who misses home and misses hisgirlfriend and realizes they're not being attacked and has thisidea about bringing her over becausethey're not in any danger.09:30Charlie Rose:Because he knows helicopter guys-- he--09:32 Kiefer Sutherland: And he gets it-- and he works it out. Yeah.09:35Charlie Rose:Yeah.And then she, in a sense, develops a senseof the-- of the--09:40 Kiefer Sutherland: Well, I think-- You know, I think there wasan amazing thing.I think with all of the men that were serving in Vietnam-- Imean, and certainly I'm sure that there were some that reallyfelt a sense of duty and were glad to be there.But I think for the large part most of the soldiers really werejust doing time.It was like a prison sentence.09:55Charlie Rose:Right.09:56 Kiefer Sutherland: And she wasn't.She made a conscious choice to go overthere to see her boyfriend.And so her perception in the way she took in herinformation thatshe was receiving was from a very different point of view.It was-- it was of a learning experience more than anything.And she--10:13Charlie Rose:And slowly--10:15 Kiefer Sutherland: Slowly you start to see the effects ofblood and death and the cruelty of war as she takes it on.10:19Charlie Rose:All right.This is a clip from A Soldier's Sweetheart.(excerpt from ''A Soldier's Sweetheart'')10:24 Kiefer Sutherland: Marianne, please, I'm losin' him. Pleasehelp me. Now!The bandages. Good.Let me see it.Here, get the clamp.Come on.10:35Georgina Cates:I just--10:36 Kiefer Sutherland: Hold the clamp, right there.Give me your finger.Come on.All right.Right there.That's a girl.I want you (unintelligible).Come on.Good girl. OK.You all right?11:00Georgina Cates:Yeah.11:03 Kiefer Sutherland: You're doin' good.11:06Georgina Cates:Yes.11:08 Kiefer Sutherland: Keep the pressure on.We stopped it all right. OK.That's it. Good.11:18Charlie Rose:When you-- watching you there and theperformance that you've gotten, you know, as we mentionedearlier, approval.When you're deciding what you're gonnado, is it the character?Is it the role?Is it the story?Is it some combination?11:33 Kiefer Sutherland: It's always the story.11:35Charlie Rose:The story?11:37 Kiefer Sutherland: It'salways the story. Yeah.I think you make a terrible, terrible mistake trying to findcharacters that you want to play.For me, if there's a film that I think is exciting or a reasonwhy I would want to do it, if you find me anything to do init, I will.I think you always have-- for me, from my perception, you haveto access a story.It's your job as an actor.You are one aspect of facilitating the overall pointof a piece.12:05Charlie Rose:Yeah.12:08 Kiefer Sutherland: And so I try-- and have tried to pickfilms like that that I wanted to tell for one reason or another.And certainly I have interest in pop films.I mean, that-- I had a great time making the Young Gunspictures and The Lost Boys and Flatliners and all of those.And then, you know, I did a film called Eye for an Eye for avery different reason--12:28Charlie Rose:That's the Sally Fields' film, is it?12:31 Kiefer Sutherland: Because I think-- Yeah, and I chose to dothat film because I think that between the news media and thereality of violence in our society--12:38Charlie Rose:And when you look at where you are now, whereare you in terms ofthe sort of the-- I mean, do you-- you know, you did a lot ofstuff in which you were sort of one of the hot, young actors andsome contemporaries of yours all names thatpeople recognize, you know?And has it been one straight pitch up-- or has it been--12:56 Kiefer Sutherland: Oh, God, no.12:58Charlie Rose:Like everybody has.13:00 Kiefer Sutherland: I've been climbin' up and downthat ladder forever. Yeah.And, you know-- and it-- you have to try andkeep that in focus.It's not a steady life.You know, it's not easy.No, it's-- but if you can just try and-- every time I start tolook around and go, ''Oh, I'd rather be up there, and why amI-- oh, God, I think I'm going downhill now,'' anytime I startto even entertain those kinds of thoughts I try and then justimmediately focus back on the work itself.And that's when I'm happy, when I'm doing that.And when I'm not the best thing for me and my family is to getkind of as far away from it as possible.13:36Charlie Rose:Yeah.13:38 Kiefer Sutherland: Because there's that wonderful analogyin that film Parenthood -- ''Some people like the rollercoaster and some people don't.''13:45Charlie Rose:Yeah.13:47 Kiefer Sutherland: And I don't think I do. And yet I have toride the roller coaster to facilitatedoing what I love doing, which is acting.13:53Charlie Rose:What do you do when you're not acting?13:54 Kiefer Sutherland: My wife has two beautifulboys, and I have a10-year-old daughter.So, we spend a lot of time with our kids.And I professionally rodeo.14:04Charlie Rose:Yeah.14:06 Kiefer Sutherland: On the USTRC circuit. Do a lot of teamroping. And--14:10Charlie Rose:In Wyoming, Montana, up in there?14:13 Kiefer Sutherland: All over. New Mexico, Arizona, Texas.I do that. Oklahoma.I have better days sometimes, and-- you know, I was-- it's asport that the really good guys do all the time.14:24Charlie Rose:But is-- But is it something then that you wantto make a movie about?A film about?With a character coming out of that?14:33 Kiefer Sutherland: Actually I'm gonna do a film called Heartsand Bones with Brenda Fricker and Pete Postlewaitein a little while.And it's about the rodeo world.It's about rodeo clowns.But, no, I try not to mix--14:44Charlie Rose:Yeah.14:46 Kiefer Sutherland: --kinda my personal life with the work.14:47Charlie Rose:KIEFER SUTHERLAND. The film is called ASoldier's Sweetheart.On Showtime, November 8, this Sunday.Thank you for joining us.

Avis :

 Un film que j’ai beaucoup aimé et qui ne laisse pas indifférent. Kiefer y est sublime de talent et de sensualité… comme on l’aime. De très belles images et un fond sonore excellent.

L’histoire est centrée autour d’un groupe de jeunes médecins  stationnés sur un plateau isolé à l’ouest de Chu Lai, où ils sont chargés  de stabiliser les cas les plus critiques  des champs de bataille du début des années 1970.  L’un deux fait venir sa petite amie et quand elle prétend pouvoir vivre dans la jungle, l’histoire prend un tournant surnaturel déconcertant.

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