
DATE: Wednesday, April 30, 1997             TAG: 9704300047
SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E9   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Movie review

SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC 

                                            LENGTH:   66 lines

SIMPLICITY, SAPPINESS SPOIL MOVIE'S IMPORTANT SUBJECT MATTER

``PARADISE ROAD'' is an endurance test which is, at the same time, inspiring. It boasts an impressive cast of American, British, Dutch and Asian actresses who suggest the enduring power of women to persevere and survive.

Burdened with movie cliches that were over-used years ago, it still has a certain power because of its very setting. It is a grim reminder not only of the sentimental movie treatises of yesteryear but more importantly of a time, during World War II, when the world was united against evil.

``Paradise Road,'' from Helen Colijin's book ``Song of Survival,'' is based on true events. It doesn't take a very devoted cynic, though, to realize that there is much of Hollywood schmaltz in this international production, directed by Bruce Beresford, who has proven via ``Driving Miss Daisy'' that he understands female sensibilities.

Running more than two hours, it includes tortures, beatings, bombings, potential rapes, starvation and varied other cruelties inflicted by Japanese captors upon British and Dutch women held in Sumatra during the war. It's a tough sit and it's dramatically vacuous in that it turns its inspiration on too quickly and too transparently. The women unite to form a ``vocal orchestra'' in which they literally hum and chant the classics - notably Dvorak's ``New World'' Symphony.

Ultimately we applaud the spirit of these women, but we wish their story was more a story and less a device.

How, for example, did they rehearse in secrecy in this tiny camp so that the Japanese are immediately awed when the singers unveil their talents? Obviously, it couldn't have happened this way. Obviously, it's staged.

Glenn Close, the William and Mary alumna, plays Adrienne Bargitar, the choir's British conductor. She has never seemed less actorish. Her delicate hands rise in almost feverish expectation to coax music from the prisoners. It's one of her least showy, but most compelling, film portrayals.

Frances McDormand, fresh from her Oscar win with ``Fargo,'' takes big chances with an all-out German accent as the camp's tough manipulator. It would be easy to dismiss this over-the-top performance as a disaster, but actually, McDormand is one of the few reasons the audience is kept from recoiling. Pauline Collins, so impressive in her Oscar-nominated role in ``Shirley Valentine,'' is fine as the choir's co-founder. Julianna Margulies (TV's ``ER'') is the American woman. The women, though, are trotted out as types rather than given enough screen time to become real characters.

Ironically, we most want to know more about the Japanese captors. There are hints that the camp director wants to become a real human, but is confined by loyalty to the emperor. But this is no ``Bridge on the River Kwai'' with its complex character development. Too much is too simple here.

``Paradise Road'' is a unique look back in both style and content, but its subject matter deserved more engrossing treatment. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX

Glenn Close, left, and Julianna Margulies star in ``Paradise Road.''

Graphic

MOVIE REVIEW

``Paradise Road''

Cast: Glenn Close, Frances McDormand, Pauline Collins, Julianna

Marguilies

Director: Bruce Beresford

MPAA rating: R (violence)

Mal's rating: Two 1/2 stars