Paradise Is Somewhere Else

Paradise Is
Somewhere Else
I
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Director
Abdolrasool Golbon
Producer
M. Hossein Naghighi
Writer
Abdolrasool Golbon
Based on the screenplay
of The Way by
Habib Fatalizadeh
Director of Photography
Mohammad Davoudi
Editor
Hassan Hassandoost
Set Designer
Mohammad Davoodi
Music
SaeidAnsari
*CimaFilmy/Farabi
Cinema Foundation
Production Companies
Cima Film &
Farabi
Cinema Foundation
present
Production Managers
Jalil Shabani
Hassan Najm
Ist Assistant Director
Jalil Saman
Assistant Directors
Seyed Ebrahim Karimi
SeyedMousa Zakizadeh
Cas*ing
Jamshid Bahmanui
Technical Group
Cinematography Crew:
Alica Rashidi
M. Kazim Davtalab
M. Reza Gilanfar
Cine Mobile
Cinematography Crew:
Gholamreza
Hosseinzadeh
Special Effects
Morteza Akbari
Set Decorators
Mohsen Panahi
Kazim Fariborzi
Costume Designer
Mohammad Davoodi
Make-up
Ahmad Hosseinpoor
Titles
Alireza Emami
Optirals
M. Hossein Daroshafaii
Sound Desdgn
Mohammad-Reza
Delpak
S.oud Reradist
MohammadMokhtard
Sound Mix
Mohammad-Reza
Delpak
Sound Editor
Hassan Hassandoost
Sound Effects
EffatAttari
Cast
Yar-Muhammad
Damanipour
Eidok
Jan-Mohammad Talik
Gol-Mohammad
Fereshteh Sarabandi
mother
Rasool Baharangiz
Rahman
Mohammad Hamzezadeh
Fereidooni
Samad Pir-Asbaghi
officer
Abbas-Ali Adib
Mandoos
Mohammad-Mehdi
Keikhahi
Ghader
Mohmemad-Javad Arefian
Afghan chief
Mahmood Karbalaii
Norouz
Mirgol Mohammad Osman
Gaji
Sedigheh Minaii
Sudabeh
Ahmad Memarpour
sergeant
Mohebollah Tajik
Seyed Bahar
Certificate
PG
Di*sributor
Barian Entertainment
7,260 feet +9 frames
80 minutes 40 seconds
In Colour
Subtitles
Iranian theatrical title
Beheshtia-ye digari ast
A remote region of Eastem Iran, near the
Afghan and Pakistani borders. Seventeenyear-old Eidak, tired of shepherding his
family's flock, longs to leave his village
for a better life. He pesters his father
Rahman, foreman at a nearby
construction site, to persuade the boss,
engineer Fereidouni, to give him a job.
At the same time Eidak is paying money
to Ghader, the local fixer, to get him
to the Emirates. After an explosion on
the site Rahman wams Fereidouni that
conditions aren't safe, but the engineer
dismisses his fears.
Eidak recruits a young Afghan
refugee, G6i Mohammad, to take over as
shepherd, but Rahman insists that Eidak
stay. Gol Mohammad tells Eidak that he
wants to send money to get his mother
and young sister out of Afghanistan.
Rahman is killed in an accident at the
site, and the villagers blame Fereidouni.
Eidak's grandfather Mandous gives him
a rifle and tells him to shoot the engineer,
but Eidak refuses. When Fereidouni
comes to see Eidak's mother, insisting
on paying compensation, Eidak smashes
his windscreen. In a confrontation at the
police station the engineer slaps Eidak.
Eidak shoots and wounds Fereidouni,
then takes refuge in the hills. Gol
Moharmtad hides the gun. The
police search Eidak's house, arrest Gol
Mohammad and send him to the dty
for trial. Eidak is persuaded to flee the
country, and Ghader agrees to get him
to Kuwait via Pakistan. At the border they
meet a crowd of Afghans whom Ghader
is smuggling into Iran, among them Gol
Mohammad's sister. At the last moment
Eidak tums back on foot into Iran.
F7771
The first feature from writer-director
Abdolrasool Golbon, ParadiseIs
SomewhereElsemight seem a little roughhewn beside the work of his fellow
Iranians Kiarostami, Panahi or the everexpanding Malchmalbaf clan. But what
it lacks in polish and sophistication
it makes up for in its directness and
immediacy. This is limpid, clear-water
film-making: Golbon shuns allegory
or political parable in favour of an
unsentimental but sympathetic view of
lives tom between the rigid imperatives
of tribalism and the seductive pull
of modemity.
Also atypical for an Iranian film
is the absence of any hint of religious
motivation (if one excepts, that is, the
opening on-screen legend reading "In
the Name of God"). The paradise of the
title is seen in exclusively material tenns.
"Whatdo you want from this world," the
young protagonist Eidak's friend Norouz
asks him rhetorically, "except for a job,.
life, money and a car?" Eidak clearly
doesn't disagree. Lamenting that his
highest ambition seems to be to go
to the Emirates and come back with a
Toyota, his mother asks him: "What's
wrong with our life?" He doesn't deign
to answer. To him, it's self-evident that
herding his family's sheep is no life at all,
and his father Rahman's iob as fnreman
of a construction site is scarcely better.
Only the glittering Eldorado of the
Emirates holds any appeal.
If Eidak's aspirations sound tawdry
enough, Golbon never makes the mistake
of presenting the altemative as some
kind of noble primitive idyll. From the
opening shot of Eidak glumly preparing
his solitary breakfast in a bleak scrubby
landscape where the prevailing colour
is dust-grey, it's not hard see why he
might be set on leaving. Nor is tradition
accorded undue respect: the tribal code
of honour is shown as stubbomly shortsighted. When Rahman dies in an
industrial accident as a result of his
boss' refusal to observe safety procedures,
the tribesmen refuse to file an official
complaint as it would be a disgrace, even
though the local cop seems sympathetic.
Instead, custom demands that Eidak take
justice into his own hands, with all the
disastrous consequences that entails.
Golbon doesn't betray his material
with a facile happy ending, but there
is a hard-won hint of redemption
for his protagonist. Having almost
contemptuously roped in a young
Afghan refugee, Gol Mohammad,
to take over his shepherding duties,
Eidak starts feeling sympathy for the
lad and is troubled with guilt when Gol
Mohammad is arrested on suspicion of
being implicated in the shooting of the
construction boss. Meeting the Afghan's
sister at an illegal border crossing is
enough to tip the balance. In the closing
shot Eidak, having renounced the fabled
lure of the Emirates, treks doggedly back
into Iran to face his responsibilities,
though we know that in reality
there's probably little he can do. It's
a paradoxical image - at once hopeless
and hopeful.
Philin Kenmn
The Reckoning
United lKingdom/Spain 2001
Director
Paul McGuigan
Producer
Caroline Wood
Screenplay
Mark Mills
Adapted from the novel
MoralityPlay by
Barry Unsworth
Director of Photography
Peter Sova
Editor
Andrew Hulme
Production Designer
AndrewMcAlpine
Original Swre
MarkMancina
Adrian Lee
CRenaissance Films/
KanZamaniMDA
Production Companies
A Renaissance Films
production in
association with
KanZaman +MDA Films
APaulMcGuigan film
Erecutive Producers
Stephen Evans
Angus Finney
Co-producers
Denise O'Dell
Sarah Halioua
Line Producer
Andrew Warren
Associate Producer
MarkAlbela
Production Superoisor
YousafBokhari
Production Co-ordinator
Jane Templeton
Production Managers
Lucy Ainsworth-Taylor
Spain:
Cristina Zumairaga
Unit Production Manager
Spain:
MarkMostyn
Unit Mmagers
UKCharlie Thompson
Ross Kirkman
Spain:
Felix Burgos
Location Manager
Adam Richards
Post-production
Supervisor
AlistairHopkins
2nd Unit Director
Andrew Hulme
Assistant Directors
Spain tst: Tousaf Bokhari
UK ist:MarySoan
2nd: Mat Baker
Spain and: Ifiaki Berara
3rd: Joe Geary
Spain 3rd: Inaki Beraza
Script Supemisor
Susanna Lenton
Casting
Director:
Jina lay
Spain Director
Camilla-Valentine Isola
Associate Director
Shaheen Baig
Camera Operator
Martin Stephens
Steadicam Operators
Paul Edwards
Keith Sewell
Visual Effects
Mill Film
Infermo Artist
Dnncan Home
Smoke+Mirrors
Special Effects
Supewisors
Spainc
Reyes Abades
uil
Stuart Bcisdon
Special Effects
Co-ordinators
CesarAbades
Angel Alonso Lopez
Special Effects Senior
Technician
Mark Haddenham
Special Effects
Reyes Abades Efectos
Especiales
Snow Supervlsor
lohn Mason
ModelMakers
Sarah Mayfield
Sue Breakwell
Art Directiom
Jordi Yrla
Supervising Art Director
lohn Ralph
Art Director
Alan Ashby
Set Decorator
Anna Pinnock
Draughtsmen
Jan MacFadyen
Paul Inglis
Mark Bartholomew
Scenic Artist
David Packard
Storyboard Artist
lane Clark
Sculptors
Martin Smeaton
Stephen Hicklin
Costumes Designed by
Yvonne Blake
Costume Superisor
Suzy Freeman
MaskMakers
Sergio Herndodez
SalvadorMateu
Play Costumes
SalvadorMateu
MikelMateu
Armour
English Arms &Armour
Chief Make-up Designer
SamhMonzani
Make-up Artists
Caroline Frazer
Sue Ignatiu
Maria del Carmen Clavel
CrowdMake-up Artists
Cammela Perez
Ana Belen Galiano Perez
Chief Hair Designer
Simon Thompson
Hairdressers
Graham Pownall
Maureen McGill
Crowd Hairdressers
Sergio Parez Bebel
JoasJuez Daganzo
Title Design
Luke Pendrell
Dylan Kendle
itirs/Opticals
Cineimage
Title/Optical Supervisor
Steve Boag
Camera
Charles Green
DigitalOutput
Cinesite
Orchesrator
Brian Gascoigne
Music Programmer
Ric Featherstone
Music Editor
JulianMacDonald
Recording
Engineers
Pete Lewis
Steve Price
MusicMixer
Steve Parr
SoundRecordist
Antonio Bloch
Re-recordists
Dean Humphries
Jens Christensen
Tim Alban
Supervising
SoundEditor
Malt Grime
SupervisingDialogue
Editor
Keith Marriner
DialogueEditor
Susan French
ADR
NY Recordist:
JodyNazzaro
NYMixer.
Leslie Mona-Mathis
Editor
Steve Schwalbe
Foley
Artists:
Melissa Lake
Ricky Butt
Jason Swanscott
Ruth Sullivan
Editors
Graeme Stoten
Ed Bulman
MediesalResearcher
Elizabeth Gemmill
Stunt Co-ordinator
Miguel Pedregosa
SIGHT&SOUND 63|8
Shrek 2
USA 2004
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Diretors
Andrew Adamson
KellvAsbory
Conrad Vemon
Producers
Aron Wamer
David Lipman
John H.Wdiliams
Screenplay
AndrewAdamson
JoeStillman
1.David Stem
David N. Weiss
Based upon the book by
William Steig
Story
Andrew Adamson
Edito.
Michael tndrews
Sim Evan-Jones
Designer
Production
Guillaume Aretos
Music
Harry Gregson-Wlltiams
llem Datoe, Paul Bettany
AnimalWrangler
Rafael Molina
HorseWranglers
Luis Miguel Mateos
Sebastian Pereira
Horses
Animales y Carruajes
Debbie Kaye
Cast
WillemDafoe
Martin
Paul BctUany
Nicholas
BrianCox
Tobias
GinaMcl<ee
Sarah
SimonMcBuroey
Stephen
Elvira Minguez
Martha
EwenBremner
Brother Simon Damian
Matthew MacPadyen
King's justice
James Cosmo
Lambert
TomHardy
Straw
George Wells
Springer
MarkBenton
sheriff
NiallBuggy
priest
Lukede Woolfson
Daniel
Vincent Cassel
Lord Robert de Guise
MarianAguilema
Nicholas' lover
TrevorSteedmun
jealous husband
RichardDurden
Town Justice
Hamishi
McColl
innkeeper
Julian Barratt
gravedigger
LuisaRequenaBaron
baker
PedroMartinez de Dioni
carpenter
TomGeorgeson
Flint
SimonPegg
gaoler
MariaBerganza
Thomas Wells' mother
RafaIzuzquiza
Thomas Wells' father
Josd LuinMartinez
man atplay
ValeriePearson
woman at play
BalbinoLacosta
Chamberlain
Heathcote Williams
undertaker
DavidLuque
captain of the guard
Certificate
IS
Distributor
Entertainment Film
Distributors Ltd
9,893 feet +15 frames
109 minutes 56 seconds
DolbyDigital/DTS
Colourby
DeLuxe
[Z.35.O
Spanish theatrical title
El misterimde Wells
England, I380. Nicholas leaves the
priesthood and his village after sleeping
with a married congregant and killing
her husband when discovered. Meeting
a troupe of actors whose leader has died,
he is reluctantly allowed to join them.
In a small town under the protection of
Lord Robert de Guise, Martha, a deaf-anddumb woman, has been condemned for
murdering a boy named Thomas Wells.
The players' performances of biblical
stories are tepidly received, so they decide
to stage the murder. Nicholas and Martin,
the troupe's new leader, visit Martha in
prison, where she protests her innocence.
Their new play is interrupted by the
64| 8 SIGHT&SOUND
bereaved parents and townspeople who
claim four other boys have similarly
disappeared. The players are ordered
to leave town.
Dissatisfied by official explanations,
Nicholas digs up Thomas' body and
discovers marks of abuse. The King's
Justice confirms that Lord de Guise is
suspected. Nicholas investigates further
and confronts Simon Damian, the monk
whose evidence convicted Martha. Simon
is later found murdered. The Justice says
this death ruins the case against de Guise.
The players interrupt Martha's execution,
perform a true version of events and
denounce de Guise. De Guise admits
his guilt and murders Nicholas, but the
townspeople fall on him. The players
leave for Durharn.
C,L
E
:
The Reckoning is based on the I995 novel
MoraEty Playby Barry Unsworth, whose
fiction frequently explores the accepted
version of events. In this case, a troupe
of travelling players arrives in a medieval
town as the verdict in a murder trial is
announced, and inconsistencies in'the
case emerge. Did mute Martha really
strangle young Thomas Wells, or is there
a connection with other lost boys? Paul
McGuigan's adaptation, like the book,
revolves around who has the right to
tell Thomas' story, a dilemma that is
expressed through changing productions
staged by the theatre troupe. When
their humdrum Bible plays are tepidly
received, the actors' leader Martin
suggests staging the crime in their midst:
"Aplay about greed, temptation and
mortal sin." Pre-empting Elizabethan
domestic tragedies by two centuries,
their versions of the case prove far more
immediate than their coolly filmed Bible
story: in their first attempt at enacting
the crime, the camera peers into the
frightened victin's face as Thomas'
parents protest at the portrayal of their
son. Even more emotive is the final
version which bursts on to the gallows,
the camera swirling slowly through
snowflakes as the queasy tale unwinds.
But despite such occasionally vivid
moments, TheReckoning is a deeply
flawed adaptation. The themes of
performance and contested, competing
'truths' that are explored in Unsworth's
book should be ripe material for cinema,
but Mark Mills' script is uneven at best
("How can you sleep?" disgraced priest
turned actor Nicholas rails at a judge),
failing to enliven the anxieties over the
ownership of Thomas' story in Morality
Play. Local lord de Guise's paedophiliac
killings seem transplanted from a
modem cop show (even if he is modelled
on the notorious French nobleman Gilles
de Rais), and his theological showdown
with Nicholas is crude and preachy.
Among some hammy performances,
especially from the wrangling actors,
Paul Bettany remains compelling, mining
the pink-rimmed eyes and gift for febrile
sermonising that he displayed in Dogville
and Master andCommander(not to
mention A Knight's Tale).
Despite the unrelieved glum tone
and dark-age plotting, there's some bold
filming here. As McGuigan proved in
GangsterNo.a , he likes to serve up moral
dilemmas with unnerving style. Evoking
a country ravaged by plague and poverty,
he shoots harsh times in a cold light.
The palette is set at mud and faces at
sullen. The players' cart, with its crimson
canopy, trundles through an iron-grey
landscape to a town that cowers beneath
a brooding castle. Everything appears
smutted and grubby; even the town's
feast day becomes an eerie carnival of
padded masks, the camera caught in
a medieval moshpit of brief release.
Galloping horses are filmed at throat or
ankle height, underlining an unsteady
view of a threatening world. A repeated
visual trope is the use of juddery
repetitions, short overlaps which
drag their feet on a charged moment.
The mystery at the heart of The Reckoning,
then, may not require much scrutiny, but
the filming is worth a second look.
David Jays
*DreamWorks LLC
Production
Companies
DreamWorks Picturs
prewents a PDIl
DreamWorks production
Eer.ution Producer
Jeffrey Katzenberg
PDI
Eieadof Studio:
PattdBurke
Siead of Productiome
Teresa Cheng
Director of Chauacter
Development:
BethHofer
Production Executives:
Paul Hettler
Denise Minter
Supervisors
Productimn
Art Department
StaceyVandermeerHennen
CharacterTechnical
Direction:
Claudia Southmardin
Modelling:
Tonia Pizzato
Andrea Stoops
Surfacing:
Andre de O.Araujo
Layout:
Carol Conti Norton
Animation:
Tony Cosanella
Jennifer Dahlman
Philip R Garrett
Lighting:
JenniferFreemm
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lenna GriggThomas
Effects
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Editorial:
Laura Lockwood
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ResearchlDevelopment
Technology:
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Production Contrller
Gary Wohlleben
LeadTechnicalDirector
JeffBeall
TechnicalDirectors
Surfacing:
MarkA.Kauffmat
Layout
Marty Sixkiller
Animation:
Matt Authement
York N.Schueller
Allen Stetson
Lighting:
Steve EJ. Bell
MarkA.Decker
Tony Mitrelfelt
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Effects:
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Sandjideh
TaylorShaw
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Technical
Additional
Support
Layout:
SamanthaMichel
Lighting:
SherylAterrado
Roberto A.Calvo
Michael H Lee
Christina Yen
Production
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Co-crdinator
RobynMesher
Production Co-ordinators
Story:
Kelly Cooney
Art Department:
LizBorges-Henog
CharacterTechndcal
Direction:
Sunny Ye
Modelling:
Angela Ensele
Layout:
Fadi Basem Kandah
Surfacing:
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Susan Erokan
Lighting:
Kelly M..J6ac
Hannibal P.Odisho
jennyWolfe-Binder
Effectse
Wendy S Berry
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Editorial
Gabrielle Siegel
Virginia WIlson
Studio Resomces:
MarionMontgomery
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SeniurProduction Manager
Denise Nolan Cascino
Production Manager
Kristen D. Chidel
Addional Producion
Management
Thva VonKark
Production Enginoring
Munager
John Crawbuck
Post-prododion
Executive:
lames Beshears
Supervisor
Andrew Birch
Co-ordinator:
Wayne Hellinger
Creative Consultants
Ted Elliott
Terry Rossio
Technology
Animation
Head ofTechnology:
Andy Hendrickson
Head ofAnimation
Software:
Nick Foster
ProductionManager
Jerome Solomon
R&DDepartment Manager
SanjayDas
Pesearh/Development
Manager
Lisa Marie Lamb
SystemsManager
Mike Kierman
Studio ResourcesManager
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StudinResources
Supervizor
juli Gumbiner
Production Support
Effects.
Meredith M. Gill
Casting
Leslee Feldman
Associate:
Chrisd Soper
ADRVoice
Mickie McGowan
LAMadDogs
Hgadof Story
ChdisMiller
Sto.y/Editorial Superoisor
Latifa Ouaou
Stry Artists
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johnStevenson
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AdditionalDialogue
Cody Cameron
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Conrad Vemon
Story Consultant
TedTally
VisualEffectsSupervisor
Ken Bielenberg
COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
TITLE: The Reckoning
SOURCE: Sight Sound ns14 no8 Ag 2004
WN: 0422000691034
The magazine publisher is the copyright holder of this article and it
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Copyright 1982-2004 The H.W. Wilson Company.
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