Conference bookie::movies

85.0. "A Far Away Place" by 32198::KRUEGER () Mon Mar 22 1993 14:36

    This movie was rated G, but I think it should have been PG.  I had a
    hard time sitting there during the matinee because families brought
    their small children and it was noisy from all the questions.  But this
    is a very entertaining movie for those who like adventure, survival,
    and nature.
    
    The movie is filmed in Africa and the plot is simple: a young American
    girl and her parents, the "anti-poachers" of the area, live in a
    sprawling "out of Africa" kind of home.  The girl (I think her name was
    Nonny?) is like a second daughter to Maximilian Schell, who tracks down
    poachers and shoots them if they don't come quietly.  I was horrified
    to think they would actually show this, but they scooted around the
    scene enough to get the point across without gore.  Anyway, Nonny wants
    to go with Schell when he goes out on poaching maneuvers, but her
    father says no. 
    
    Nonny's mother has invited her best friend's husband and son for a
    visit; her friend is now dead.  The boy is Harry, who is clearly bored
    at being in the jungle instead of New York.  But he is attracted to
    Nonny and her savvy with the land and the natives.  On their first
    night, he sees Nonny sneaking out and follows her.  She is with Sabo, a
    native who is her "brother" who has "the tapping" which is sort of like
    the "Shining" ... he knows things before they happen.  He convinces
    Nonny and Harry to spend the night in the cave and the next morning
    Nonny discovers that everyone at home has been murdered by the
    poachers.
    
    This all happens at the beginning and the rest of the movie is about
    their trek across the desert to evade the poachers who know they are
    still alive.  It was a study in pain and suffering, endurance, love,
    and growing up.  I don't think what I wrote should be a spoiler,
    because this movie is being written up almost identically in People and
    the papers.  The movie is the trek .... and the bravery and ingenuity
    of three young people determined to make it across and live.
    
    I give it four stars.  Bring your kids 9 years old and up... 
    
    Leslie

I mostly enjoyed this: except when I started thinking.  That's when I
kept asking myself: why the heck are they walking in the day and
camping at night, in a desert?  Except that it made the cinematography
prettier?  But then, I guess that's what happens when a cinematographer
becomes a director...  That major plot hole made it hard for me to lose
myself in the movie.

    Maybe it's harder to sleep in the broiling sun and at least during the
    day they could see where they were going.  Plus, if they were traveling
    by night and sleeping by day, they'd have no chance at all to hide if
    someone was following them.
    
    IMHO,
    Leslie

    
    I thought it was "A Far Off Place"?
    			    ---
    
    How was the new "Maroon Cartoon"? Just love that Jessica Rabbit!
    
    
    -=- Paul
    

For most of the journey, they weren't worrying about hiding.  It's kind
of hard to hide when you've got a line of footprints many km long in
the sand leading to you...but to say more would definitely be a spoiler.

And the title is indeed "A Far Off Place".

I'd love to get that cartoon in a format where I could look at each
frame; two things I caught, but couldn't really see, were a bumper
sticker on the log as they first left the sawmill, and lots of strange
positions/forms of Roger when he was being thumped by the logs from the
stack.  The amount of detail was truly impressive -- and the cartoon
was very funny, too.

    I love the Roger cartoons!  They're hilarious!
    
    Leslie

    "Walkabout" remake sans Guptil and Agutter.