Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
Director: Ciro Guerra, Defiant Screen Entertainment.
A coloniser with principles makes for an interesting premise in this film. Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies, The BFG) plays the role of a man named The Magistrate of an isolated frontier settlement on the border of an unnamed empire. He looks forward to a hassle-free retirement.
He doesn’t want to be cruel toward the itinerants from whom land has been stolen. Instead of putting them behind bars, he spends time to understand their language, choosing to carry himself without much fuss, preferring to create harmony in a specific corner of the 19th century British Empire.
However, the well-balanced environment is soon to be shattered after the arrival of Colonel Joll (Johnny Depp), who adopts different tactics to those of The Magistrate.
He wants information from the nomads about a likely invasion and treats them as being beneath him, with negligible importance. For him, torture leads to truth. Joll is totally self-righteous, rigid in posture with distinctive cheekbones and a sinister look.
Rylance and Depp play characters that represent two contrasting extremes.
The Magistrate’s affection for the nomads is more genuinely, and pleasantly, articulated toward a blinded woman (Gana Bayarsaikhan). As she details the cruelty she’s experienced, he is protective of her. His response is unbelievably tactful, and rather startling.
Robert Pattinson is also in this movie, appearing in a role that doesn’t carry any importance. He plays an assisting officer to Colonel Joll.
Cinematographer Chris Menges makes the most of the opportunity to capture the spectacular desert panorama views as The Magistrate takes her back to her people. It’s a sonorous feature of this fine-looking, but often underplayed period piece.
Here’s an impassive epic from Colombian director Ciro Guerra (Birds of Passage, Embrace of the Serpent). South African writer J.M. Coetzee has carefully adapted it from his own 1980 novel.
Can you name the actor who plays an assisting offer to Colonel Joll? If you give us the correct answer, then you could win one three DVDs of Waiting For The Barbarians. Entries should be sent to [email protected] by Monday, 26 October 2020. Names of the winners will be announced in Frank Cassidy’s PS-sssst…! column on 27 October 2020.
