Paradise Road (1997)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Bruce Beresford

Writers:

David Giles (story) and
Martin Meader (story) ...

Release Date:

11 April 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | War

Plot:

Fact-based recounting of a group of women who are imprisoned on the island of Sumatra by the Japanese during World War II and used music as a relief to their misery.

Plot Keywords:

Japanese | Singapore | Island | Prison | Sumatra

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Glenn Close	...	Adrienne Pargiter
Frances McDormand	...	Dr. Verstak
Pauline Collins	...	Daisy 'Margaret' Drummond
Cate Blanchett	...	Susan Macarthy
Jennifer Ehle	...	Rosemary Leighton-Jones
Julianna Margulies	...	Topsy Merritt
Wendy Hughes	...	Mrs. Dickson
Johanna ter Steege	...	Sister Wilhelminia (as Johanna Ter Steege)
Elizabeth Spriggs	...	Mrs. Roberts
Pamela Rabe	...	Mrs. Tippler
Clyde Kusatsu	...	Sergeant Tomiashi, 'The Snake'
Stan Egi	...	Captain Tanaka
David Chung	...	The Interpreter
Sab Shimono	...	Colonel Hirota
Penne Hackforth-Jones	...	Mrs. Pike

MPAA:

Rated R for prisoner of war brutality and violence.

Runtime:

122 min | 114 min (FMC Library Print)

Country:

Australia | USA

Language:

English | Japanese | Dutch | Malay

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | Iceland:12 | Canada:14+ (Ontario) | Netherlands:12 | South Korea:18 | Philippines:R-18 | Argentina:16 | Chile:18 | Germany:12 (w) | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Marrickville Town Hall, Marrickville, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Company:

Village Roadshow Pictures

Goofs:

Factual errors: An early night scene of the women swimming ashore (set in the week after 10 February 1942) shows the full moon. The moon was between last quarter and new moon that week.

Quotes:

Dr. Verstak: Sometimes God reaches down and pulls the wings off his butterflies.

Movie Connections:

References Silent Cries (1993)

Soundtrack:

Funeral March

Powerful

First class work here. The film follows a group of women captured in Asia by the Japanese, and interned as enemy aliens. It shows the inhuman brutality that the Japanese inflicted on anyone they considered to be of an inferior race. (i.e. not Japanese) (for that matter anyone not samurai) As a coping mechanism, and partially in defiance of their captors, the women form a vocal orchestra, playing the parts of classical music with only their voices. The music soothes the women, those in the orchestra, and those who aren't. The Japanese soldiers even come to enjoy the sound, and the atrocity rate drops a couple of notches.

Stand out performances abound here. In fact I can't really single out any of the cast. They were all good, including the Japanese actors. I had thought from the reviews that the music would be the largest part of the film, with just the backdrop of the prison camp, but it really wasn't. I recommend this film.