Paradise Road

1997
R
2h 2m

IMDb RATING

6.8/10

6.1K

YOUR RATING

Play trailer2:30

1 Video

26 Photos

Drama History War

A group of women who are imprisoned on the island of Sumatra by the Japanese during World War II use music to relieve their misery.A group of women who are imprisoned on the island of Sumatra by the Japanese during World War II use music to relieve their misery.A group of women who are imprisoned on the island of Sumatra by the Japanese during World War II use music to relieve their misery.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.8/10

6.1K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 win & 7 nominations total

Videos1

Trailer 2:30

Paradise Road

Photos26

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
The music in the film was derived from the actual score transcripts used in the P.O.W camps which survived World War II.

Goofs
The women of the choir did the singing while sitting down because of having to work in the extreme heat during the day left them exhausted.

Quotes
Adrienne Pargiter: You don't hate them do you?
Margaret Drummond: No.
Adrienne Pargiter: Why not?
Margaret Drummond: I've tried, but I can't bring myself to hate people. The worse they behave, the sorrier I feel for them.

Connections
Featured in Siskel & Ebert & the Movies: The Saint/Inventing the Abbotts/Double Team/That Old Feeling/Chasing Amy (1997)

Soundtracks
Symphony No. 9 in E minor Op. 95 'From the New World' II. Largo
Written by Antonín Dvorák (as Antonin Dvorak)

User reviews56

Featured review

8/10

Powerful

First class work here. The film follows a group of women captured in Asia by the Japanese, and interned as enemy aliens. It shows the inhuman brutality that the Japanese inflicted on anyone they considered to be of an inferior race. (i.e. not Japanese) (for that matter anyone not samurai) As a coping mechanism, and partially in defiance of their captors, the women form a vocal orchestra, playing the parts of classical music with only their voices. The music soothes the women, those in the orchestra, and those who aren't. The Japanese soldiers even come to enjoy the sound, and the atrocity rate drops a couple of notches.

Stand out performances abound here. In fact I can't really single out any of the cast. They were all good, including the Japanese actors. I had thought from the reviews that the music would be the largest part of the film, with just the backdrop of the prison camp, but it really wasn't. I recommend this film.