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The women's gulag Paradise Road is a musical about war by MATTHEW HAYS
Based on the true stories of women caught and interned in Japanese prisoner-of-war camps, Paradise Road manages to create a novel take on the seemingly exhausted WWII period. The film's opening has a group of European aristocrats enjoying a decadent party in a Singapore hotel. Bombs are soon heard--they appear to be not far off--and the guests attempt to put the best face on the disturbing noises as they get louder. Then comes the shocking announcement: the Japanese are gaining ground. Leaving the men behind, a group of women board a crowded ship which is soon beset by enemy fire. Glenn Close survives and manages to swim to land with two others; after struggling through some treacherous jungle, they assume the worst is over when they reach what looks like civilization. They are soon beaten by Japanese soldiers and taken to a prisoner labour camp where they are to spend the remainder of the war. Paradise Road's manipulative gut-wrenching high point comes when Close suggests the women form an orchestra to pass the time. Despite strict orders not to assemble or to write anything, the women risk beatings and possible execution to compose a score and perform a concert. Beresford, who also wrote the screenplay, researched the real version of events extensively and his homework pays off. The cast performs an actual score performed by women prisoners held by the Japanese during WWII. It is hauntingly beautiful, and virtually beyond belief that such a score could emanate from the situation. I hesitate to call Paradise Road a female bonding movie--though there are signs of friendship and camaraderie between many of the prisoners, there are an equal number of rivalries and prejudices which keep the women apart (Frances McDormand hilariously hams it up as the sole German in the camp, a reclusive doctor who watches over the prison's sick). After Ridley Scott's Thelma and Louise (a good movie), studios produced a series of bad movies, smelling the prospect of profit in portraying women standing together against the world. With Paradise Road, the director who is considered one of the brightest lights of what was dubbed the Aussie New Wave in the '80s has succeeded in bringing integrity back to onscreen sisterhood. Paradise Road opens this Friday, April 25. See film listings for showtimes |
The trailers for Paradise Road look suspect. Lots of hugs, some pat Hollywood female bonding and star power to the Glenn Close/Frances McDormand degree. But don't be fooled--despite Hollywood's general ineptitude at marketing, director Bruce Beresford made this film, and he makes what could have been a disaster into a truly great tearjerker.