South African novelist J. M. Coetzee adapts his own novel for Columbian director Ciro Guerra on imperialism and oppression with mournful, if indolent intrigue.
Waiting for the Barbarians stars Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies), Johnny Deep, and Robert Pattinson (The Lighthouse) and uses light and shadows from visages and landscapes where a sandstorm can occur out of the blue.
So, lensing pro Chris Menges (The Killing Fields) can evoke a David Lean masterwork from a seemingly tranquil arid outpost on the border of a dominion.
Rylance’s unnamed Magistrate is met by a suavely vile Colonel Joll (Depp, who’s been through the wringer of late offscreen, donning white gloves and round glasses to limit all that glare), a state security official.
A bewildered Magistrate, evinced with equanimity, not to mention compassion by the chameleonic acclaimed character actor, has his sensitivity and dignity tested by the nasty Joll. His torture of two wanderers looked upon as titular pillagers sets in motion atrocities which figure into a thematic scheme of a narrative reverberating the past and present.
A bewildered Magistrate, evinced with equanimity, not to mention compassion by the chameleonic acclaimed character actor, has his sensitivity and dignity tested by the nasty Joll. His torture of two wanderers looked upon as titular pillagers sets in motion atrocities which figure into a thematic scheme of a narrative reverberating the past and present.
The might against a so-called rebellion puts the patient Magistrate in a vortex of misunderstandings that are hard to quell as Joll generates numbers which apparently support his contemptibly necessary operation. The Magistrate has to cope with a very tattered state and Pattinson’s vicious Warrant Officer Mandel later appears to accuse a deeply pained, crestfallen individual of collusion.
With support offered from the likes of David Dencik as a soldier and accomplished veteran presence of Greta Scacchi as a cook the acting often resonates under the images of raw beauty presented by a diligent Mendes. A tender sentience from Rylance leads the way as he shares good moments with ‘The Girl’, an affecting Gana Bayarsaikhan (of Mongolian descent), an abuse victim of Joll’s posse reflecting in her ankles and eyes.
Avoiding sensationalizing with veritable melancholy, Guerra is able to have his players internalize disparate emotions pretty well within a story line that seems reluctant to shift its gears. A wrenching depiction from the guilt of what’s been imposed on ‘barbarians’ may be too much waiting for arthouse cineastes to discern a viably poignant experience. Yet, Guerra and his international, capable cast face a reprehensible subject with unsentimentally honest resolve.