Craig Armstrong's score for The Quiet American, based on the novel byGraham Greene, isn't the moody instrumental extravaganza you might be expecting. Granted, it is moody and extravagant, asin elegant and mysterious -- Armstrong has worked withMassive Attackafter all -- but most tracks alsofeature Vietnamese vocals, with the exception of "Nothing in This World (Song for Phuong),"which isin English and plays during the end credits. The combination of subdued singingand minor-key electronics is exotic and disorienting, not the least because it isn't specifically evocative ofthe time period during which the film is set -- the early '50s. Fowler (Michael Caine) is a Saigonbased journalist with a young mistress, Phuong (Do Hai Yen), but he will always be British andhe will always be married (his wife, who lives in the U.K., refuses to grant him a divorce). Then, theseemingly naïve American of the title, Pyle (Brendan Fraser), enters the scene and proceeds toshake up Fowler's world -- and the whole of Vietnam while he's at it. Pyle, as it turns out, isn'tquitewhat he appears to be. But nothing is, really, inPhillip Noyce's acclaimed drama, which was released the same year as his equally well-received Rabbit-Proof Fence. The Quiet American rankswith The Year of Living Dangerously in the lush, heat-drenched, political intrigue sweepstakes,andArmstrong's stirring score is a fitting accompaniment.