Bangkok Hilton

I have just had the luck to see this TV mini again recently. The second viewing just reinforced my impressions from my first viewing a few years ago.

This is Nicole Kidman playing an extraordinary rôle in a great film, before she became another one for the Hollywood heap. Since this film, I have only ever seen her in two better rôles: "The Portrait of a Lady" (qv) and Robert Daldry's astounding masterpiece "The Hours" (qv).

A two-part mini of 90 minutes each, I had to watch the whole three hours in one go: but was not at all tired on either experience. "Bangkok Hilton" does not mess about with unnecessary details, but gets you right into the story from the beginning, especially in the second half which includes those tremendous prison scenes in Thailand's capital, from whence logically the film's title.

Yes, one of Nicole Kidman's earlier works, but one in which you know she was on the road to great things. A few stupidities got in the way - like "Moulin Rouge!" (qv) - but even so, one can now see where she did her spade-work, and "Bangkok Hilton" is one of the best examples.

I saw this film along time ago, when I was about 10 or 11 years old. In recent times I've mention it to many persons and nobody seems to have ever seen or heard of it. This is hands down one of the best movie/performance I have ever seen in my entire life. Anyone who has any doubt as whether Nicole Kidman can act, watch this movie. I honestly don't want to say anything about the movie, other than get it and watch it. I'll state the obvious, the story took place in Bangkok, Thailand. I cannot understand why it has not been seen by the masses, since 'Hollywood' like to ride 'the celebrity of the moment' band wagon and ironically this is actually a good wagon to hop on. The mini contains typical Hollywood stuff, Deception, Confinement, Damsel in Distress, a well as 'Pharmaceutical' and a 'Pharmacist'. Try to get it and watch it, It's tight.

It must be the ultimate horror for any backpacker / long distance traveller: you get jailed in a foreign country whose language you do not speak and where you can expect "a fair trial plus a fine hanging", even as an innocent party.

The plot may be somewhat too well constructed. Normally, parents and friends would protest against the arrest of an innocent tourist, especially if the tourist never never had anything to do with drugs.

You bet I look particularly well after my luggage in such countries!

Meanwhile a similar case has taken place in Indonesia: the Australian tourist Schapelle Corby was sentenced to 20 years in jail for drug possession. The scenario was very similar: the defendant insists the drugs were planted, the case is not too solid, but enough for a conviction.

This is the ultimate TV mini-series. Everything is right. The story, the acting, the filming, the length, the locations, what not?

It looks as if even the prison scenes have been filmed in a real Thai prison, although one might doubt if permission would have been given for that by the Thai authorities if the script was known to them. All the other Bangkok scenes are definitely filmed on real locations. Also the airport scenes. They were definitely filmed at Bangkok Airport. I can guarantee this, knowing the place well. In this series Nicole Kidman broke through as an actress and she would deserve an Oscar, if there were one for this category (TV movies). Her acting is so perfectly natural and it looks as if she is going through the events herself, like in a documentary. One seldom sees such superior acting in a TV mini-series. All the locations have been chosen extremely well. I happen to know Bangkok quite well and I would not have been able to suggest any better locations. The movie last for about 4.5 hours, but this is not one minute too long. One needs every scene in the movie and it never bores. One can hardly believe that 4.5 hours have passed when the end credits appear. Time flies and if one looks at a video or DVD version it is impossible to interrupt it.

This one clearly shows that a TV mini-series can be of high quality and can be far superior to a movie, made for theaters. We can be happy that there is a DVD version (at least there is one in Europe). Everybody will want to see this one more than once. Superior work from Australia! Without any hesitation: 10/10!

When I first have seen these Tv-series in Russia, I didn't have an opportunity to see it from the beginning, but I was surprised. It's the best TV-film I have ever seen, and it's Kidman's best performance. KEN Cameron did a great job. So does Grame Revell's fantastic, brilliant score. It grips you so much, you are nervous, it's so WONDERFULLY and realstically acted and directed, you even forget that you're in front of your TV set. By the way, the scenes of Nicole Kidman's redemption were borrowed later by Frank Darabont in his adaptation of Stephen King's "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption". It's such a pity that this movie was not taken too seriously and it passed by too quickly, and at the same time we have ridiculous bad acted features like Titanic. By the way, I managed to buy a video with these series, and I'm so HAPPY!