IR Film Review: WAITING FOR THE BARBARIANS [Samuel Goldwyn]

The idea of an unseen enemy laying in wait of an advancing army entrenched in their own land is a story of victims and conquerors the world over. But it is the ones who survive and find balance and connection even in certain horrors that ultimately become the storytellers for the next generation. Unfortunately much of this enlightenment comes at the heavy hands of others whose lack of vision shouldn't have allowed them presence of mind in the first place. Or it could be simply that they simply don't care in the overall structure. The texture of "Waiting For The Barbarians" is an interesting one because it uses the backdrop of what should be North Africa but seemingly in an apocalyptic setting of sorts but a retro one in others (where techology doesn't exist). The eyes of the piece are through Mark Rylance's administrator. Rylance brings an extraordinary empathy to this border story. He wants to keep the peace, enjoy his little dailiances and leave the people in the hills alone, going as far to protect one, when she betrays the rules of the outpost. As with most colonists, this is not the reasoning that contiinues to a just end. In an allusion to both the British and Germans inn years past, the idea that an assault is impending is simply the consequence of building up fear in the population where mosly none exists except that of the unknown. Made outside the studio systems and shot on location in Chile, the world here feels separated yet undeniably close. A simple crime of compassion undoes everything. Rylance plays a soul that is stuck between his duty and obeying the status quo of this world. Johnny Depp (in one of his continuing nuanced performances) plays an ode to almost thw Gestapo with the balance of wanting the highlife but believing his intention is above reproach which makes it all the more telling as the film continues. It is the most exposed in a way we have seen Depp recently in terms of performance especially in one moment late in the film when all seems to have gone wrong. Robert Pattinson also makes an appearance as an underling to Depp who enforces his will in this lonely outpost. It is a thankless role in many respects but the film with its pedigree especially with its hark back to "Lawrence Of Arabia" in a very limited sense makes this film a unique character study in the essence that colonialism will always have it comeuppance. B

By Tim Wassberg