Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Sarah Polley | ... | Hanna | |
Tim Robbins | ... | Josef | |
Sverre Anker Ousdal | ... | Dimitri (as Sverre Ousdal) | |
Javier Cámara | ... | Simon | |
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Danny Cunningham | ... | Scott |
Dean Lennox Kelly | ... | Liam (as Dean Lenox Kelly) | |
Daniel Mays | ... | Martin | |
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Emmanuel Idowu | ... | Abdul |
Eddie Marsan | ... | Victor | |
Steven Mackintosh | ... | Doctor Sulitzer | |
Julie Christie | ... | Inge | |
Reg Wilson | ... | Factory Manager | |
Leonor Watling | ... | Josef's Friend's Wife | |
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Daphne Brown | ... | Old Lady on Bus |
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Muriel Hobson | ... | Old Lady on Bus |
Hannah, who wears a hearing aid, is forced to go on holiday. On holiday she manages to find a job: caring for Josef, a burn victim on an oil rig who temporarily lost his sight, until he's stable enough to be transferred. There is almost no one on the rig, except a cook, an oceanographer and a few others out at sea. Hannah tends to Josef and he slowly breaks her shell of silence. Written by Yonatan Doron (jrd@netvision.net.il)
I understand the commentary about the revelation of pain but the most significant 'lesson' for me was the insidious horror of war - in a film without bloodshed - and obviously the lingering effects of man's inhumanity to man. The slow reveal of the characters' backgrounds crept up on me and to my surprise left me absolutely gutted at the film's conclusion -and for some time after. I was left with a feeling of emotional and physical grief that i have not felt since my father died - the uncontrollable tide of internal pain. While a completely different genre, it reminded me of Sophie's Choice but in comparison made Streep's horror look like a walk in the park. Polley is amazing. What human's do to each other is tragic beyond description. And yet, we continue to torture our fellow humans and apparently fail to learn from our mistakes.