Waiting for the Barbarians (2019)- BFI London Film Festival 2019

Review

112min

Genre:     Drama

Director:   Ciro Guerra

Cast:       Mark Rylance, Johnny Depp, Gana Bayarsaikhan…and more

Writers:   J.M. Coetzee

-Synopsis-

On the edge of an unspecified foreign empire, a magistrate at a remote desert outpost begins to have a crisis of conscience when the brutal treatment of the bordering nomadic ‘barbarians’, and his role in it, begins to stoke the fires of rebellion within—in this period tale with contemporary echoes adapted from J.M. Coetzee’s novel, from the director ‘Embrace of the Serpent’.

When it comes to lyrical and visionary Latin American filmmakers of the last few years, few have made as indelible a mark on us as writer/director Ciro Guerra, having grabbed our attention and captured our imagination with hallucinatory Amazonian voyage ‘Embrace of the Serpent’ and vibrant tribal crime family epic ‘Birds of Passage’.

Now after splitting with filmmaking partner (and spouse) Cristina Gallego, sporting deeper pockets filled by an Italian co-production and armed with a starry cast, the Colombian director returns with South African author J.M. Coetzee’s novel, itself inspired by the Greek poem, for his sobering English language debut—delivering an unflinching, semi-historical yet timely dissection of oppression, discrimination and integration.

Mark Rylance stars as a dutiful magistrate stationed on a colonial town on the edge of a 19th century empire, dealing with the grind of the often sobering and occasionally brutal bureaucracy of protecting the borders, and subjugating the natives dubbed ‘barbarians’. But as the job begins to eat away at his humanity when the Empire decides to crack down on supposed unrest at its frontiers, a visit from callous colonel ‘Joll’ (Johnny Depp) and his men, combined with the treatment of an indigenous girl (Gana Bayarsaikhan) soon force him to question his loyalties . . . and the very nature of imperialism.

Given Guerra’s penchant for diving into the intricacies of colonialism and its oppressive legacy over indigenous peoples, it’s hardly a surprise that the director was drawn to Coetzee’s work—which the Nobel prize winner adapts himself for the screen—but what’s unusual here is that this a story told from the perspective of the oppressor, in spite of being a kind-hearted coloniser, or at the very least an isolated but willing cog in the machine.

Despite being a work of fiction, ‘Waiting for the Barbarians’ might as well be a biographical period piece for all its historical resonance, echoing the real history of colonialism in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, and more specifically reflecting the British and French empires in both its themes and visual style. Even though it’s set in the past, most likely the 19th to early 20th century, it’s also depressingly timely, and like the 2005 Philip Glass opera also based on Coetzee’s novel, this film draws uncomfortable parallels with the invasion of Iraq and subsequent war—particularly in terms of the trumped-up false threat as a premise for military action, the torture and abuse, and the tragic irony of the actual threat and devastation which these actions ended up manifesting.

The human drama here is no doubt both gritty and sobering yet restrained, not dwelling on depicting the violence and brutality, but not shying away from it either. But there’s also a sense of adventure at play here, particularly revolving around where the story goes and how it looks, giving us strong ‘Dances With Wolves’ and ‘The Man Who Would Be King’ vibes, as the photography from veteran cinematographer Chris Menges (The Killing Fields, The Mission) conspires with stunning Moroccan mountain and desert locations to give us some mighty frontier vistas.

As moody and well-presented as the film is, like all of Guerra’s work this is at heart a character piece, and while the likes of Johnny Depp and Robert Pattinson get to chew the scenery as the more traditionally villainous oppressors—with Depp serving as a subtle but sinister inquisitor-like figure, occasionally reminding us of a certain weird-eyed blonde wizard with a Swiss surname—it’s Rylance who portrays the more interesting and complex fulcrum character of the piece.

As it does with all his roles, Rylance’s inherent stoicism and dignity shines through as a decent character in an indecent world, so isolated in the frontier that he exists in an almost peaceful bliss of ignorance, until reality comes crashing down in the form of the oppressive empire for which he is an almost unwitting tool . . . almost. He’s partnered in a key part of the film, which ultimately proves its moral heart, by Mongolian actress Gana Bayarsaikhan, who brings a quiet dignity in despair and suffering as the abused barbarian girl, with whom the magistrate forms a curious bond which changes the course of his life.

Despite all of its visual and narrative merits, and perhaps as a result of being anchored by being a straight adaptation from the author of the original work, there’s is something missing when compared to the vibrancy and atmosphere of Guerra’s previous films, and it certainly doesn’t have quite the same lyrical and entrancing quality. Meanwhile the antagonistic supporting characters prove rather one-note and thinly drawn—a casualty of the film’s insistence on keeping any and all backstories vague—and despite the efforts of the accomplished actors playing them, they tend to come off as brutal but convenient instigators of the magistrate’s moral awakening.

In the end though, Guerra and Coetzee guide the story admirably past the finish line, refusing to tie everything up in a redemptive bow and wrapping up with a bleak but honest conclusion, even making a major departure from the novel which changes the very context of the film’s title, or does it?. All in all leaving us contemplating the very nature of imperialism and oppression, the brutal bureaucracy of order and conquest, and reflecting on those who suffer the fallout . . . both the conquered and the conquerors.

The Bottom Line…

A tense and measured fictional period piece with strong historical echoes and timely themes, Ciro Guerra’s English language debut may not boast the vivid mesmerising quality of his previous work, but his adaptation of J.M. Coetzee’s novel still proves an enthralling character drama and a picturesque but sobering and unflinching cinematic meditation on colonialism and oppression . . . with depressingly contemporary undertones.

‘Waiting for the Barbarians’ has no confirmed release dates yet.

Similar films you may like (Home Video)

Embrace of the Serpent (2015)

In early 20th Century South American rainforests; an American biologist enlists the help of an old indigenous isolated Amazonian shaman, to recreate a journey he took 40 years earlier with a German ethnologist to find a rare and powerful plant, in an adventure drama loosely based on the experiences of scientists and academics Theodor Koch-Grunberg and Richard Evans Schultes.

Directed by Ciro Guerra and starring Brionne Davis, Jan Bijvoet and Nilbio Torres among others.

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