Johnny Depp as Colonel Joll and Mark Rylance as the Magistrate.
Set in an anonymous sleepy and remote outpost in the middle of a vast desert, situated near the northern frontiers of the ‘Empire’, the story focuses on the fate of a Magistrate (a mesmerizing Mark Rylance) who, having lived there for longer than he can remember, runs the area with a fair hand and gentle justice, always making an effort to respect and understand local customs and languages. He believes himself to be the fair side of justice, the good guy, totally oblivious to the insiduous and sublte forms of oppression that he also practices, while he is critical of how others behave. This will be hard journey for him. Greta Scacchi plays the Magistrate’s cook and housekeeper Mai. She clearly cares for him and worries when she sees him straying into dangerous territory, trying to fight his corner and defending the locals from the gratuitous violence inflicted upon them by the sinister Colonel Joll (a bespectacled and forbidding Johnny Depp) who has arrived with a platoon for an ‘inspection’ brimming with bravado and insensitivity towards the local people.
The film was nominated for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival this year. It is structured in a set of chapters, starting with “Summer”. This follows an idea first used by Ciro Guerra in ‘Birds of Passage’ (2018) which was similarly set out in ‘Cantos’ or songs.
Colonel Joll, seeking to enhance his position of power and standing with his ‘Third Bureau of State Security’ regiment, obsesses about an imminent danger to the ‘Empire’ of an attack by the ‘barbarians’. When Colonel Joll first arrives for his inspection, the Magistrate tried in vain to persuade him that this quiet town is not under threat and does not require a prison. However, in Colonel Joll’s sadistic and distorted mind, ‘barbarians’ along the frontier are amassing for an assault that must be stopped in its tracks by all available means. He, with his compliant side- kick, Officer Mandel (Robert Pattinson) deal ruthlessly with anyone considered a threat, trying to extract information, with uncontrolled viciousness and a total lack of compassion. Local indigenous people are seen as dangerous pests who deserve no mercy, who should be tortured until they ‘confess’ to the (non- existent) crimes they are planning, deserving only to be treated as vermin. When the Magistrate discovers an horrifically tortured girl (Gana Bayarsaikhan) who has been blinded and crippled by her injuries, he takes it upon himself to care for her, becoming transfixed by her, despite his housekeeper Mai’s best efforts to warn him of the dangers. When he decides he should return the girl to her people, he exposes himself to the wrath of Colonel Joll. When he is subsequently treated as a traitor for these actions, he suffers terrible consequences: - “We have no enemy, unless we ourselves are our enemy,” says the Magistrate in sorrow.
Mark Rylance
This film comes across as a strong critique of the misuse of power and the rampant disregard for the rights of local indigenous people, a theme that Guerra holds close to his heart.
The film is dazzling in its visual scope. Shot in Morocco and Italy, the cinematography by Chris Menges captures the mood and ambience of the place and vast open landscapes to shimmering effect. Similarly, the Production Designer (Domenico Sica), the Art Director (Abdellah Baadil) and the Set Designer (Crispian Sallis) have carefully worked the mise-en-scène to the finest detail. The atmosphere is so convincing, that the screen seems to exude the smell of the place. It becomes a totally immersive experience, which Ciro Guerra excels in creating.
(Italian subtitles)
The Magistrate’s character is well-rounded and believable and Mark Rylance with his reticence and gentle manner, bordering on the naïve, is totally convincing. The film is worth watching just for his performance alone. However, some of the thrust of the story line and characters have been sadly, underwritten, notably Colonel Joll. It is as if too much were left to appearances. Guerra seems to have left Johnny Depp too little scope, with his rigid collar and uniform, and, given his permanently-fixed dark glasses, he was even unable to use his eyes. His character, therefore, comes across as a two-dimensional cypher, leaving the viewer with unanswered questions. Why did this character behave as he did? What were the real motivations for his behaviour? Given the epic sweep of this film, this is a sad under use of a talented actor.
Nevertheless, the film manages to hold its own, thanks to the near-perfect rendition by Mark Rylance of the Magistrate as a thoroughly decent man who faces forces beyond his control, evoking empathy and sorrow.
The source book, by JM Coetzee, of the same name, has also been adapted for an opera by Philip Glass to a libretto by Christopher Hampton that premiered in 2005 in Germany-. It is a story that remains powerfully relevant. Glass claims he sees it as allegory for the Iraq war, with Military personnel carrying out torture on innocent civilians amid claims of a threat to the empire’s security that fails to materialize. At no point is there any evidence or proof that any ‘barbarians’ have war on their minds. There has also been a theatrical version (adapted by Alexandre Marine) by the Baxter Theatre in Cape Town.
‘Waiting for the Barbarians’ will be available from September 7th 2020 on Digital Platforms: iTunes, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Sky Store, Sony, Virgin, TalkTalk, BT
Director Ciro Guerra
DOP Sam Menges
Editor Jacobo Quadro
Prod Design Crispain Sallis and Domenico Sica
Art Director Abdellah Baadil
Music Giampiero Ambrosi
Producer Monika Bacardi, Cristina Gallego, Olga Segura, Danielle Ierbolino and Michael Fitzgerald
Production Company Iervolino Entertainment
Cast: Mark Rylance, Johnny Depp, Robert Pattinson. Gana Bayarsaikhan. Greta Scacchi.
