Proof of Life (2000)

Director:

Taylor Hackford

Writers (WGA):

Tony Gilroy (written by)
William Prochnau (article) (inspiration)

Release Date:

8 December 2000 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Romance | Thriller

Plot:

Alice hires a professional negotiator to obtain the release of her engineer husband, who has been kidnapped by anti-government guerrillas in South America.

Plot Keywords:

Negotiator | Ransom | South America | Money | Box Office Flop

Awards:

5 nominations

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Meg Ryan	...	Alice Bowman
Russell Crowe	...	Terry Thorne
David Morse	...	Peter Bowman
Pamela Reed	...	Janis Goodman
David Caruso	...	Dino
Anthony Heald	...	Ted Fellner
Stanley Anderson	...	Jerry
Gottfried John	...	Eric Kessler
Alun Armstrong	...	Wyatt
Michael Kitchen	...	Ian Havery
Margo Martindale	...	Ivy
Mario Ernesto Sánchez	...	Arturo Fernandez (as Mario Ernesto Sanchez)
Pietro Sibille	...	Juaco
Vicky Hernández	...	Maria (as Vicky Hernandez)
Norma Martínez	...	Norma (as Norma Martinez)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence, language and some drug material.

Runtime:

135 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish | Russian | Italian | French

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Malaysia:18PL | Iceland:14 | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Philippines:PG-13 | Argentina:Atp | Australia:M | Chile:TE | Denmark:15 | Finland:K-15 | France:U | Germany:12 (w) | Hong Kong:IIB | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:M | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:12 | Spain:7 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Ecuador

Company:

Castle Rock Entertainment

Trivia:

Kessler's bible is used for two maps of the area. The main map is drawn over Luke 21-22, which talks about the return of the Son of Man (Thorne will come and save Peter Bowman). The second map has a passage marked out, Matthew 5, which discusses the wrongness of revenge and loving your neighbor.

Goofs:

Continuity: The ferry's position in relation to the overhead bridges changes when Terry is traveling on the river Thames, talking to his superior.

Quotes:

Ted Fellner: We're out of miracles.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Marathon (2002)

Soundtrack:

Don't Bossa Me Around

Good Crowe, Ryan, Morse

Despite the obvious ending being reminiscent of "Casablanca," which is a great film, "Proof of Life" held up for the most part with A LOT of action--guns, muscle, and physical cruelty. Crowe is mostly always good, but Ryan surprised me in this. I found her multi-dimensional, able to shake the cutesy business that she usually plays, and really good as a quite desperate wife who has some issues with her world-hopping engineer husband. Morse was believably chauvinistic early on (before the kidnapping), and quite remarkably believable as a desperate hostage. Crowe was solidly heroic, not a Humphrey Bogart, to be sure, but certainly someone whom Ryan as Alice would remember for a long time. Certainly Terry and Alice never had "Paris" to remember, but there were good vibrations between them as Crowe plotted to save her husband.