The first twenty minutes of Paradise Road are very moving, and both my mom and I were reaching for our handkerchiefs to dab our eyes as the women were jumping from the sinking ship into the ocean, hoping to land in a lifeboat. However, after that emotional sequence, the movie went downhill and never resurfaced. It copies so much of Three Came Home, A Town Like Alice, and Playing for Time, it's downright shameful. To me, it's of no difference that this was also a true story; it's so similar to the previous three films, it should have been shelved with a recommendation instead for interested audiences to re-rent the earlier movies.
While living in Singapore in the middle of WWII, a group of women are suddenly forced to evacuate when Japanese troops invade the city. They pack their belongings and board a ship, but when Japanese planes attack and sink the ship, they jump into the water with life preservers around their necks. Three women drift away from the lifeboats and get left behind; after an eternity of bobbing around in the freezing water and waiting for the tide to carry them to land, and after they crawl their way through the mud and jungle terrain back to civilization, they get reunited with all the other women from the lifeboats. Does that sound unrealistic to you? If you don't like it now, you won't like the ridiculous lack of realism in the rest of the movie. Trust me. Turn it off now.
Once thrown in a Japanese prison camp, they're treated to daily showers surrounded by a bamboo enclosure, opportunities to grow gardens and eat their own produce, free reign to walk around the camp and socialize until lights out, and clear expectations of their behavior. Instead of being grateful for the treatment, they grumble about having to use their own feces for fertilizer, complain that they're not allowed to write anything down (why would this be necessary?), make insulting remarks in front of the guards about the Japanese flag, and literally get in fistfights with one another about using the last of the soap. Soap! Soap is a luxury. The mere fact that they were allowed to use it at all should have been cause to thank the guards, not disrespect them. Did these women not realize where they were? They were in a Japanese prison camp, not a girls' dormitory. They could have been captured, shot with a machine gun, burned, and buried - and no one would have been the wiser. Instead, they were kept alive and treated humanely for years. Where's the gratitude?
Are you ready to turn the movie off yet? If not, there's more. There's another plot point that's so outrageous, it's hard to believe it was true. Forbidden to create clubs or conduct religious services, the women instead decide to disobey all the rules and form a musical choir. "Do you think they'll give us instruments?" one incredibly stupid woman actually asks. She really thinks that the prison guards, who dump raw meat into the muddy street and watch as the women scrounge around for the best bits, will lend their prisoners different instruments so they can enjoy extra-curricular activities in the middle of a war? Why wasn't she executed for asking such a thing? I'm kidding, of course, but it really illustrates the absurdity of this entire film.
Most of the women join with enthusiasm, but a couple of smart women hang back because they know they could be killed if they're caught. "I think that's a risk worth taking," says choir director Glenn Close with a smug smirk on her face. Glenn Close is the only reason I rented this movie, but by the time it was halfway through, I wanted to smack that smug smirk off her face. If she was in a prison camp, she would be too exhausted to be so smug. She would not have the energy to bounce her hands as she conducted her singers. She wouldn't have the wherewithal to make exaggerated faces to them as if they were a choir of middle schoolers who couldn't remember the words. And she certainly wouldn't be so insanely happy that she'd grin from ear to ear and take a deep bow after the song!
Glenn's entire character was unrealistic - but then again, so was everyone else's. This self-righteous, absurd "war drama" is an insult to the real women who had to live through prison camps. Cate Blanchett's skin was continually scrubbed clean, Frances McDormand's German accent was extremely muddled, Elisabeth Spriggs would have collapsed from exhaustion or stress during the first week (and she would have lost a severe amount of weight after months of eating prison rations), Juliana Margolis wouldn't have continued to joke as if she were at summer camp, Jennifer Ehle would have continually beaten and raped if she paraded her body the way she did, Johanna ter Steege's nun's habit was pristinely white without a spot or wrinkle during the entire movie, Pauline Collins never broke or cracked her glasses, and Wendy Hughes's hair was always clean. I know I'm beating a dead horse here, but where were they again? They were in a prison camp! They should not have had filthy hair, filthy skin, filthy hands, gaunt faces, tired and stooped bodies, and defeat and fright in their eyes. And even if they did believe singing in a choir was worth getting killed over, they wouldn't have grinned from ear to ear while they did it. I'm talking to you, Glenn Close.
Kiddy warning: Due to violence and an upsetting scene involving an animal, I wouldn't let my kids watch this movie.
While living in Singapore in the middle of WWII, a group of women are suddenly forced to evacuate when Japanese troops invade the city. They pack their belongings and board a ship, but when Japanese planes attack and sink the ship, they jump into the water with life preservers around their necks. Three women drift away from the lifeboats and get left behind; after an eternity of bobbing around in the freezing water and waiting for the tide to carry them to land, and after they crawl their way through the mud and jungle terrain back to civilization, they get reunited with all the other women from the lifeboats. Does that sound unrealistic to you? If you don't like it now, you won't like the ridiculous lack of realism in the rest of the movie. Trust me. Turn it off now.
Once thrown in a Japanese prison camp, they're treated to daily showers surrounded by a bamboo enclosure, opportunities to grow gardens and eat their own produce, free reign to walk around the camp and socialize until lights out, and clear expectations of their behavior. Instead of being grateful for the treatment, they grumble about having to use their own feces for fertilizer, complain that they're not allowed to write anything down (why would this be necessary?), make insulting remarks in front of the guards about the Japanese flag, and literally get in fistfights with one another about using the last of the soap. Soap! Soap is a luxury. The mere fact that they were allowed to use it at all should have been cause to thank the guards, not disrespect them. Did these women not realize where they were? They were in a Japanese prison camp, not a girls' dormitory. They could have been captured, shot with a machine gun, burned, and buried - and no one would have been the wiser. Instead, they were kept alive and treated humanely for years. Where's the gratitude?
Are you ready to turn the movie off yet? If not, there's more. There's another plot point that's so outrageous, it's hard to believe it was true. Forbidden to create clubs or conduct religious services, the women instead decide to disobey all the rules and form a musical choir. "Do you think they'll give us instruments?" one incredibly stupid woman actually asks. She really thinks that the prison guards, who dump raw meat into the muddy street and watch as the women scrounge around for the best bits, will lend their prisoners different instruments so they can enjoy extra-curricular activities in the middle of a war? Why wasn't she executed for asking such a thing? I'm kidding, of course, but it really illustrates the absurdity of this entire film.
Most of the women join with enthusiasm, but a couple of smart women hang back because they know they could be killed if they're caught. "I think that's a risk worth taking," says choir director Glenn Close with a smug smirk on her face. Glenn Close is the only reason I rented this movie, but by the time it was halfway through, I wanted to smack that smug smirk off her face. If she was in a prison camp, she would be too exhausted to be so smug. She would not have the energy to bounce her hands as she conducted her singers. She wouldn't have the wherewithal to make exaggerated faces to them as if they were a choir of middle schoolers who couldn't remember the words. And she certainly wouldn't be so insanely happy that she'd grin from ear to ear and take a deep bow after the song!
Glenn's entire character was unrealistic - but then again, so was everyone else's. This self-righteous, absurd "war drama" is an insult to the real women who had to live through prison camps. Cate Blanchett's skin was continually scrubbed clean, Frances McDormand's German accent was extremely muddled, Elisabeth Spriggs would have collapsed from exhaustion or stress during the first week (and she would have lost a severe amount of weight after months of eating prison rations), Juliana Margolis wouldn't have continued to joke as if she were at summer camp, Jennifer Ehle would have continually beaten and raped if she paraded her body the way she did, Johanna ter Steege's nun's habit was pristinely white without a spot or wrinkle during the entire movie, Pauline Collins never broke or cracked her glasses, and Wendy Hughes's hair was always clean. I know I'm beating a dead horse here, but where were they again? They were in a prison camp! They should not have had filthy hair, filthy skin, filthy hands, gaunt faces, tired and stooped bodies, and defeat and fright in their eyes. And even if they did believe singing in a choir was worth getting killed over, they wouldn't have grinned from ear to ear while they did it. I'm talking to you, Glenn Close.
Kiddy warning: Due to violence and an upsetting scene involving an animal, I wouldn't let my kids watch this movie.