Paradise Road

This film gripped me from the opening scene in the hotel ballroom and prooved to be a class act right to the end. Director Bruce Beresford's track record includes Driving Miss Daisy, Tender Mercies and Breaker Morant, so Paradise Road came as a special treat, not realising at the time of viewing that he had directed these films. The realistic scenes of violence had a tremendous impact in contrast to some of the wonderful underplaying of the leading actresses, notably Glenn Close and Pauline Collins. The Japanese actors, although unknown to me were chillingly effective. I can only hope for more films of this calibre but alas they are few and far between.

Why didn't more people see this film? This is what makes it great:

As an ensemble piece it works wonderfully - the cast are truly magnificent. Glenn Close is fabulous as the 'central' character and most well known 'star', but she does not monopolise all the scenes and screen time. She blends in with what is a wonderful cast, and does so impeccably. Why she hasn't been given more kudos as an actress is beyond me - she is stunning.

The film worked perfectly because of what comes across as a genuine rapport between the female cast. Each actress brings a different element to the story - Jennifer Ehle is strong willed and beautiful, Julianna Marguilles fiesty and dominant, Pauline Collins has such a human quality which she conveys to perfection, Cate Blanchett portrays wonderfully a quiet woman with a rebellious side. All compliment and balance each other. The actresses succeed admirably in bringing to the fore the bond that grew between their real life inspirations for this story.

The direction is precise and the cinematogrpahy beautiful. Despite the bleak context, Japan still looks vibrant and colourful, full of life.

The score. I can't do justice to the score in words - the vocal orchestra formed by the women is just beautiful and poignant to listen to and really does need to be heard to be understood. Somehow the actresses manage to make the music symbolise their humanity and spirit. It works wonderfully.

Overall, this is a heartfelt film with a profound message of hope which runs all the way through it. 'Paradise Road' is one of those rare films which reminds you of the indestructible nature of the human spirit. I wish there were more films like this one, and I wish more people had have seen this film. In a word it's a gem.

I stumbled across this movie surfing TV channels late one night. I was drawn right into the plot, and thought it was an incredible story, incredibly well-told. It's a true story, which I previously did not know anything about, but should have. Both the story, itself, and the film, should be much, much better known. It is also one of Glenn Close's best performances. Her performance, and the film, itself, are absoultely gripping! If you like true-life stories that are extremely well-done, such as "We Were Soldiers," then this one is of a similar genre, but with the main characters being women.

First class work here. The film follows a group of women captured in Asia by the Japanese, and interned as enemy aliens. It shows the inhuman brutality that the Japanese inflicted on anyone they considered to be of an inferior race. (i.e. not Japanese) (for that matter anyone not samurai) As a coping mechanism, and partially in defiance of their captors, the women form a vocal orchestra, playing the parts of classical music with only their voices. The music soothes the women, those in the orchestra, and those who aren't. The Japanese soldiers even come to enjoy the sound, and the atrocity rate drops a couple of notches.

Stand out performances abound here. In fact I can't really single out any of the cast. They were all good, including the Japanese actors. I had thought from the reviews that the music would be the largest part of the film, with just the backdrop of the prison camp, but it really wasn't. I recommend this film.

I love this movie because I love the characterization of the women in it. I felt powerfully with the women, felt I knew them, felt complete identification with most of them.

I actually think it's hard to specify the actions and words that will make a character both realistic and sympathetic. Showing mere suffering won't do it. But here, Mr. Beresford has been able to stir such warm feelings (particularly toward the Roberts girl, the Glenn Close and Jennifer Ehle, her Dutch friend, and the Cate Blanchett characters). The romanticism, cheer and background of the Ehle character are particularly well drawn.

This is a far superior movie to 'Platoon', by the way - and a wonderful tribute to those who went through the awful 3.5 year ordeal.

Another thing I quite liked (these days) was to see a movie that did not attempt to make the Caucasians the moral villain relative to the other race depicted.

This is not a movie concerned with p.c. appearances - the Japanese are not shown as somehow merely "different", a difference we "simply cannot understand or judge" because of our different culture. Setting a woman on fire for bargaining for medicine for a sick elderly woman is brutality in any culture - and this movie does not attempt to minimize the moral wrong.

Bravo, Mr. Beresford.