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Paradise Road

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Australia, United States · 1997
Rated R · 2h 2m
Director Bruce Beresford
Starring Glenn Close, Frances McDormand, Pauline Collins, Cate Blanchett
Genre War, Drama, History

Paradise Road is a 1997 film which tells the story of a group of English, American, Dutch and Australian women who are imprisoned in Sumatra during World War II. It was directed by Bruce Beresford and stars Glenn Close as beatific Adrienne Pargiter, Frances McDormand as the brash Dr. Verstak, Pauline Collins as missionary Margaret Drummond (based on missionary Margaret Dryburgh), Julianna Margulies as American socialite Topsy Merritt, Jennifer Ehle as British doyenne and model Rosemary Leighton Jones, Cate Blanchett as Australian nurse Susan McCarthy and Elizabeth Spriggs as dowager Imogene Roberts. Basing his picture on real events, Bruce Beresford tells the story of a vocal orchestra created by the women in a Japanese P.O.W. camp, a classic survivors' tale extolling women's ability to survive hardship and atrocity through perseverance, solidarity and creativity.

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What are critics saying?

88

ReelViews by James Berardinelli

The exceptionally strong cast showcases American, British, and Australian actresses, all of whom show an astonishing willingness to appear in physically unflattering circumstances (no makeup, hair and skin caked with drying mud).

50

Chicago Reader by Jonathan Rosenbaum

But the inspirational aspects of the tale--which mainly has to do with the determination of Close to form a vocal orchestra at the camp, despite the class divisions between the women--never quite carry the dramatic impact they're supposed to.

50

Rolling Stone by Peter Travers

What should have been an affecting film becomes a rank blend of sentiment and sadism in the hands of Bruce Beresford, the Australian writer and director.

63

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Rick Groen

Given the predictable scenario, this picture needs passion, and all it gets is his workmanlike precision. What he's constructed is worthy enough, and certainly navigable, but you need more than the bricks of craft to build a road to paradise.

60

The New York Times by Stephen Holden

In trying to keep track of everybody while providing enough melodrama to sustain an atmosphere of controlled terror, Paradise Road stumbles all over itself and never really finds its center.

40

Austin Chronicle by Steve Davis

Ultimately, Paradise Road is one of those well-intended films that doesn't completely succeed because it shortsightedly believes that its eloquent subject matter is enough, in and of itself, to create a memorable moviegoing experience.

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