Land of the Blind (2006)

A soldier recounts his relationship with a famous political prisoner attempting to overthrow their country's authoritarian government.

Director:

Robert Edwards

Writer:

Robert Edwards

Stars:

Ralph Fiennes, Donald Sutherland, Tom Hollander

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ralph Fiennes	...	Joe
Donald Sutherland	...	Thorne
Tom Hollander	...	Maximilian II
Lara Flynn Boyle	...	First Lady
Marc Warren	...	Pool
Ron Cook	...	Doc
Robert Daws	...	Jones
Laura Fraser	...	Madeleine
Jonathan Hyde	...	Smith
Camilla Rutherford	...	Tania
Don Warrington	...	First Sergeant
Miranda Raison	...	Daisy
Nigel Whitmey	...	Anchorman
Leigh Zimmerman	...	Anchorwoman
Mackenzie Crook	...	Editor

Storyline

A political drama about terrorism, revolution, and the power of memory. In an unnamed place and time, an idealistic soldier named Joe strikes up an illicit friendship with a political prisoner named Thorne, who eventually recruits him into a bloody coup d'etat. But in the post-revolutionary world, what Thorne asks of Joe leads the two men into bitter conflict, spiraling downward into madness until Joe's co-conspirators conclude that they must erase him from history.

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Plot Keywords:

prisoner | terrorism | revolution | government | jailer | 

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, language and some sexual content/nudity

Did You Know?

Trivia

The quote that Joe and Thorne quote in the car is also used in Nixon (1995).

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Quotes

[first lines]
Anchorwoman: So many fond memories of Maximilian the First on the tenth anniversary of our glorious leader's death.
Anchorman: Many of course doubted that his son and heir, Maximilian II, could live up to the example of his charismatic father. But the man affectionately called Junior has valiantly continued against the pesky rebellion, led by the playwright turned terrorist, John Thorne.
Anchorwoman: Once derided as the playboy Prince more interested in the movie business, the President-for-life announced today that he ...
[...]

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Connections

References Planet of the Apes (1968)

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Soundtracks

E Flat Trio 2nd Movement
Written by Franz Schubert

User Reviews

A noble effort

When I read the cast list for this film i thought "hey with these people it should be great!" well... it's not great, but it does do a good job at exposing the hypocrisy of power, and who is better suited to govern, a single person/regime or that amorphous element named "The People".

Donald Sutherland and Rafe(don't call me Ralph!) Fiennes, give wonderful acting performances, and there are many great supporting roles too. Including the lovely Lara Flynn Boyle, (watch for the scene with her in a skin tight latex dress playing kinky sex games with her husband!,it made the rental price, for me anyway, worth paying ! Woo Hoo!).

There is a lot of interesting and intelligent dialog through out the film too , the director/writer is obviously a literate man.

My problem, is that this film tries to hard to be too many things at once.

BTW, the poem that Sutherland's and Fiennes' characters quote is by William Butler Yeats and it's named "The Second Coming", and the haunting piano music you hear, you might remember is also used in "Barry Lyndon" and I believe is written by Mozart

It's definitely worth a rental though.

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 October 2007 (Portugal)

Also Known As:

Confesión bajo juramento

Filming Locations:

UK

Box Office

Budget:

$18,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$5,244, 18 June 2006

Gross USA:

$5,244

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$25,116

Company Credits

Production Co:

Avnet/Kerner Productions, Bauer Martinez Studios, Brooklyn Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1