Waiting For The Barbarians is being released on Digital Download on the 7th September, we got the chance to check out the new film featuring a star-studded cast including Academy Award Winner Mark Rylance, Academy Award Nominee Johnny Depp, Robert Pattinson and Gana Bayarsaikhan, prior to its release.
The Magistrate, administrator of an isolated frontier settlement on the border of an unnamed empire, looks forward to an easy retirement until the arrival of Colonel Joll, whose task it is to report on the activities of the ‘barbarians’ and on the security situation on the border. Joll conducts a series of ruthless interrogations. The treatment of the ‘barbarians’ at the hands of the Colonel and the torture of a young ‘barbarian’ woman combine to lead the Magistrate to a crisis of conscience and a quixotic act of rebellion.
In an age of action-packed Hollywood blockbusters it’s a refreshing change to have a movie that you can relax with, Waiting for the Barbarians is very much that sort of film, the opening sequence with its lovely landscape shot as a horse-drawn carriage travels across the arid land to an outpost in the middle of nowhere looks great and this does set us up for the cinematography that persists throughout the film.
We are introduced to a quiet and thoughtful “Magistrate” played by Mark Rylance who has developed a love for the land, the people and so it seems their history as he works on action artefacts that he has found during his time at his post.
Arriving on the coach is Colonel Joll (Johnny Depp) who is there to interrogate the ‘barbarians’ in ways that go against the Magistrates beliefs.
The Magistrate takes in ‘The Girl’ (Gana Bayarsaikhan) and learns more of the horrors that are going on and sets on a course to try and put things right, after returning from a journey the magistrate is accused of fraternising with the ‘barbarians’ by Officer Mandel (Robert Pattinson).
I have to say that I found Pattinson’s portrayal of Mandel a little off, maybe this was after seeing him in Tenet and as The Batman in the latest trailer for the film, but besides that it’s great to see him taking on a wide range of rolls where we can now forget about him being a glittering vampire!
Waiting for the Barbarians is a powerful piece of film and director Ciro Guerra has done a great job in this his first English language film of J.M. Coetzee screenplay of his own novel of the same name. The cinemaphotography by Chris Menges (The Killing Fields, The Mission) looks great not only in the open scenes of the rolling landscapes but also in the confines of the outpost and the nighttime shots with only a subdued lightening look fantastic on the big screen.
The soundtrack from Giampiero Ambrosi, which I do believe is his first film composition, adds to the feel of Waiting for the Barbarians, it has a similar sound in parts to Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon which I also thoroughly enjoyed.
Waiting for the Barbarians is powerful piece of film which has a superb performance from Mark Rylance and is worth checking out for his portrayal of the Magistrate.
A powerful performance from Mark Rylance
Movie title: Waiting for the Barbarians
Movie description: The leader of an isolated frontier settlement looks forward to an easy retirement until the arrival of a ruthless colonel prompts a rebellion.
Date published: September 7, 2020
Country: UK
Duration: 1h 52min
Author: J.M. Coetzee
Director(s): Ciro Guerra
Actor(s): Mark Rylance, Johnny Depp, Robert Pattinson
Genre: Drama
Karen Woodham is the founder and owner of the Blazing Minds. She is also a Cinema reviewer and works with RealD 3D reviewing the latest 3D releases and IMAX, she has also had several articles published in various publications including the first edition of SFW Magazine. In 2015 she became an Award Winning Blogger and also has her website listed as one of the UK’s Top 10 Film Blogs.
