| RATING: | 80% |
| FORMAT: | Cinema |
Unusually thoughtful and profoundly-emotional policier. A trite cops and robbers’ premise is effectively married to a story of a thriving farming-community and an impossible romance - that does not cop-out with a syrupy ending. We feel like intruders upon a deeply-alien way of living that has long since past, yet somewhat to be desired because of its Edenic qualities.
The director, Peter Weir, is a visual storyteller of a high order who makes telling contrasts between different cultures. Using a focus on details rather than a broad-brush technique, he creates a picture of a complete world we can thoroughly believe in. This poetic, emotionally-sensitive style is unusual for a Hollywood thriller and works well; emphasized by the self-consciously naturalistic, Vermeer-like lighting.
Aside from the usual - but here perfunctory - generic trappings, this is a fine romance. Its only real and unresolved problem is its identity crisis over which audience to appeal to: The romantic melodramatists or the police proceduralists. This tension both adds to the drama as well as, paradoxically, serving it. The dramatic conflict here arises from a people wanting nothing to do with the “English”; not surprising given the cynicism of this shunned, wider White culture. Yet, there is also time for much humor as the hero-of-the-piece learns the idiosyncrasies of Amish life.
The cast underplays beautifully to produce a picture that, more than anything, speaks with images rather more than with words. Major plot points are conveyed visually as characters intuit each other’s feelings - especially about each other. Almost a silent movie, the characters’ deepest emotions are teased out by the merest gesture or facial expression. Simultaneously, the people solace themselves that they know that the inevitable temporariness of their situation will eventually be re-balanced by the film’s end.
The casting, direction and cinematography are faultless; making this apparently slight film a subtle look at the clash between past and present, both in fact and in our imaginations.
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