Filmmaker Bruce Beresford is one of those people who seems to profit during wartime.
After a series of recent screen missteps, the Academy Award-nominated director of "Breaker Morant" (set against the backdrop of the Boer War) has regained his footing with the masterful "Paradise Road", a quietly accomplished work that takes its cue from the real-life exploits of a highly diverse group of women interred in a Japanese prison camp during World War II.
Powerfully executed in every aspect and boasting an exceptional all-female ensemble anchored by a remarkable performance by Glenn Close, this moving portrait of the triumph of the human spirit over adversity deserves, with a little TLC from Fox Searchlight, an audience beyond the specialty arena. Hopefully its many merits won't be forgotten come Oscar time.
Beresford wastes little time before immersing the viewer in the experience. The film begins in the ballroom of Singapore's famed Raffles Hotel during the idyllic moments leading up to the mortar fire signaling Japanese occupation. The viewer is right alongside Englishwoman Adrienne Pargiter as she hastily boards a ship full of women and children that is subsequently bombed by enemy fighter planes, forcing her and others to dive into the open sea and swim to the shores of Sumatra.
Of course, their welcome is less than cordial as they are herded along with hundreds of other Europeans, Australians and Americans from all walks of life into a prisoner-of-war camp, where their Japanese hosts have very definite ideas of how women, especially enemy Western women, are supposed to behave.
Among those assembled are a spirited missionary (Pauline Collins), an American (Julianna Margulies) and a matter-of-fact German-Jewish doctor (Frances McDormand). As their survival instincts become worn down over time, Pargiter and missionary Margaret "Daisy" Drummond decide to form a vocal orchestra, reconstructing by memory complex arrangements of classical works by composers such as Dvorak and Ravel.
Practicing in small groups so as not to arouse the suspicions of their captors, the women's voices are ultimately brought together, creating a spine-tingling, ethereally uplifting sound that holds their hope aloft in the face of bleak uncertainty.
Despite the potentially oppressive nature of the material, Beresford takes advantage of the ample opportunities for humor, given the various ethnic and social differences of the prisoners. Those diverse attributes are expertly conveyed by this wonderful cast.
Close turns in one of the finest performances of her career as the choir's conductor and the group's unofficial spiritual leader. It's a portrayal that radiates tremendous pride, fearlessness, warmth and vulnerability. Also terrific is Collins, doing her best big screen work since "Shirley Valentine", as well as McDormand (despite an occasionally shaky German accent that sounds as if it came from studying Marlene Dietrich recordings) as the stoically ironic Dr. Verstak.
Behind-the-scenes work is just as impressive, including the vivid lenswork of frequent Beresford collaborator Peter James ("Driving Miss Daisy") and production designer Herbert Pinter (Beresford's "Black Robe"). While Ross Edwards' score is similarly effective, it's understandably overshadowed by those remarkable vocal orchestrations, which have been recreated from the original handwritten notes smuggled out of the camps. It's a sound that remains long after the images fade.
PARADISE ROAD
Fox Searchlight Pictures
A Village Roadshow Pictures/YTC Pictures production
in association with Planet Pictures
Director-screenwriter:Bruce Beresford
Producers:Sue Milliken, Greg Coote
Executive producers:Andrew Yap and Graham Burke
Based on a story by:David Giles and Martin Meader
Director of photography:Peter James
Production designer:Herbert Pinter
Editor:Timothy Wellburn
Costume designer:Terry Ryan
Music:Ross Edwards
Color/stereo
Cast:
Adrienne Pargiter:Glenn Close
Margaret Drummond:Pauline Collins
Susan Macarthy:Cate Blanchett
Dr. Verstak:Frances McDormand
Topsy Merritt:Julianna Margulies
Rosemary Leighton-Jones:Jennifer Ehle
Mrs. Roberts:Elizabeth Spriggs
Sister Wilhelminia:Joanna Ter Steege
Mrs. Dickson:Wendy Hughes
Running time -- 123 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
After a series of recent screen missteps, the Academy Award-nominated director of "Breaker Morant" (set against the backdrop of the Boer War) has regained his footing with the masterful "Paradise Road", a quietly accomplished work that takes its cue from the real-life exploits of a highly diverse group of women interred in a Japanese prison camp during World War II.
Powerfully executed in every aspect and boasting an exceptional all-female ensemble anchored by a remarkable performance by Glenn Close, this moving portrait of the triumph of the human spirit over adversity deserves, with a little TLC from Fox Searchlight, an audience beyond the specialty arena. Hopefully its many merits won't be forgotten come Oscar time.
Beresford wastes little time before immersing the viewer in the experience. The film begins in the ballroom of Singapore's famed Raffles Hotel during the idyllic moments leading up to the mortar fire signaling Japanese occupation. The viewer is right alongside Englishwoman Adrienne Pargiter as she hastily boards a ship full of women and children that is subsequently bombed by enemy fighter planes, forcing her and others to dive into the open sea and swim to the shores of Sumatra.
Of course, their welcome is less than cordial as they are herded along with hundreds of other Europeans, Australians and Americans from all walks of life into a prisoner-of-war camp, where their Japanese hosts have very definite ideas of how women, especially enemy Western women, are supposed to behave.
Among those assembled are a spirited missionary (Pauline Collins), an American (Julianna Margulies) and a matter-of-fact German-Jewish doctor (Frances McDormand). As their survival instincts become worn down over time, Pargiter and missionary Margaret "Daisy" Drummond decide to form a vocal orchestra, reconstructing by memory complex arrangements of classical works by composers such as Dvorak and Ravel.
Practicing in small groups so as not to arouse the suspicions of their captors, the women's voices are ultimately brought together, creating a spine-tingling, ethereally uplifting sound that holds their hope aloft in the face of bleak uncertainty.
Despite the potentially oppressive nature of the material, Beresford takes advantage of the ample opportunities for humor, given the various ethnic and social differences of the prisoners. Those diverse attributes are expertly conveyed by this wonderful cast.
Close turns in one of the finest performances of her career as the choir's conductor and the group's unofficial spiritual leader. It's a portrayal that radiates tremendous pride, fearlessness, warmth and vulnerability. Also terrific is Collins, doing her best big screen work since "Shirley Valentine", as well as McDormand (despite an occasionally shaky German accent that sounds as if it came from studying Marlene Dietrich recordings) as the stoically ironic Dr. Verstak.
Behind-the-scenes work is just as impressive, including the vivid lenswork of frequent Beresford collaborator Peter James ("Driving Miss Daisy") and production designer Herbert Pinter (Beresford's "Black Robe"). While Ross Edwards' score is similarly effective, it's understandably overshadowed by those remarkable vocal orchestrations, which have been recreated from the original handwritten notes smuggled out of the camps. It's a sound that remains long after the images fade.
PARADISE ROAD
Fox Searchlight Pictures
A Village Roadshow Pictures/YTC Pictures production
in association with Planet Pictures
Director-screenwriter:Bruce Beresford
Producers:Sue Milliken, Greg Coote
Executive producers:Andrew Yap and Graham Burke
Based on a story by:David Giles and Martin Meader
Director of photography:Peter James
Production designer:Herbert Pinter
Editor:Timothy Wellburn
Costume designer:Terry Ryan
Music:Ross Edwards
Color/stereo
Cast:
Adrienne Pargiter:Glenn Close
Margaret Drummond:Pauline Collins
Susan Macarthy:Cate Blanchett
Dr. Verstak:Frances McDormand
Topsy Merritt:Julianna Margulies
Rosemary Leighton-Jones:Jennifer Ehle
Mrs. Roberts:Elizabeth Spriggs
Sister Wilhelminia:Joanna Ter Steege
Mrs. Dickson:Wendy Hughes
Running time -- 123 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
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