Details
Movie Description
Based on a true story culled from hours of interviews by director Bruce Beresford, the film stars Glenn Close as British socialite Adrienne Pargiter. Alerted to the imminence of an invasion of Singapore in 1942, a group of the wives and children of Allied forces quickly crowd aboard a transport. When the ship is bombed, they end up on the island of Sumatra, where they are captured and imprisoned. Conditions in the camp are predictably brutal: food and medicine are difficult to come by, and the living quarters are squalid. One punishment requires a woman to kneel in the hot sun for hours only to fall on a sharp stake if she tires. Given the situation, Pargiter, who is also a musician, decides to organize the women into a vocal orchestra to help raise morale. Although they lack sheet music, Daisy (Pauline Collins), an Australian nurse, is able to re-create scores from memory. Among the reluctant women cajoled into singing are an Australian nurse, Susan McCarthy (Cate Blanchett); a cynical American, Topsy Merritt (Julianna Margulies); and a young British woman, Rosemary Leighton-Jones (Jennifer Ehle). At the first performance of Pargiter's orchestra, the Japanese guards are so moved by the music that they refuse an order to halt it. Close gives another of her typically strong performances.
Synopsis
Glenn Close stars as British musician Adrienne Pargiter in this true story of a diverse group of women held in a POW camp in Sumatra by the Japanese during WWII. In an effort to raise the spirits of the women in the brutal internment camp, Pargiter organizes a classical music choir.
Film Notes
DVD Features:
Region 1
Keep Case
Anamorphic Widescreen - 2.35
Audio:
Dolby Digital 5.1 - English
Dolby Surround - English
Dolby Surround - French
Additional Release Material:
Trailers - 1. Original Theatrical Trailer
2. Bonus Trailers
Interactive Features:
Scene Access
Interactive Menus
Theatrical release: April 11, 1997.
Shot in Singapore; Penang, Malaysia; and New South Wales and Queensland, Australia.
Industry Reviews
"...The pleasure the impressive, talented cast take in recreating Sumatra in Malaysia is palpable....Effective..."
Entertainment Weekly - Lisa Schwarzbaum (04/25/1997)
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