"The Passage" is a road-movie quite unlike any other. A woman dying of cancer, a man just released from prison and a British artist take a road trip together through Texas, each finding some kind of spiritual 'awakening' on the journey. It may sound precious and 'arty' but it isn't. The actors aren't 'actors' but real people playing themselves and their experiences feel real than than contrived. The director, Roberto Minervini, isn't well known; in fact I have to confess I never heard of him before seeing this movie. An Italian, you could say he brings an outsider's chilly eye to bear on proceedings and he photographs landscape, not from the perspective of a tourist, but a realist. This is independent film-making of the rawest kind and it won't be to everyone's taste but if you are prepared to stick with it, it has much to offer and is often deeply moving.
