This romanticized version of life during an embassy siege was never going to win prizes for that much credibility. You watch it for the acting and the messages it conveys. Based on a real siege in Peru, the film features Julianne Moore as an opera singer who is at the embassy for a private function to launch a Japanese company’s investment in the anonymous South American country it is set in. Trouble is that a local guerrilla group see it as an opportunity to infiltrate the embassy
and take those inside hostage for weeks while they negotiate with the government (Japanese origin President a la Fujimori). The film is basically about how the hostages adjust to life in captivity and how slowly the bonds with the largely young guerrillas strengthen during that time.
The ending is not an entirely happy one. If you can set aside the improbabilities, it is a watchable film, Moore, carrying it as usual. Ken Watanabe
is pretty wooden as the Japanese businessman smitten with her and it is Christophe Lambert,
Ryo Kase and Maria Mercedes Coroy
in supporting roles who are more interesting. Sebastian Koch
as a Swiss Red Cross envoy shuttles between guerrillas and government unfruitfully and Tenoch Huerta does all right as the guerrilla leader. Smatterings of opera
appear to provide some relief. Wet Sunday afternoon fare.
♦♦
passionfilm 