CLOSET LAND
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1991 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: A great idea for a film disappointingly squandered. This is a two-person play about a woman accused of treason and a government interrogator trying to force her to sign a confession. This could have been a powerful statement for Amnesty International, but its special power is lost on far-fetched plot contrivances and misjudgements in atmosphere. It's still worth seeing, though. Rating: 0 (-4 to +4).
Charlie Brown asked it after a particularly bad performance by his baseball team: "How can we lose if we're so sincere?" Sad to say, sincerity is not enough. Radha Bharadwaj wrote the play CLOSET LAND and directed the film with what I am sure was nothing but great sincerity and the best of intentions. And if this film had been done correctly, it would have been a film that is desperately needed with what is a very important message. That message is blunted with what turns out to be a contrived plot and a set of unbelievable circumstances.
In an unnamed country a woman (played by Madelaine Stowe) has been kidnapped and is brought before an interrogator (played by Alan Rickman). At first it appears to have all been a mistake. She is non-political--a simple writer of children's stories. One of the stories, "Closet Land"-- still unpublished--has fallen into the hands of the government. They interpret it as a bitter anti-government allegory and now the government wants the woman to sign a confession of sedition. She is put through a mind-numbing succession of mental and physical tortures to debase and humiliate her in an attempt to get her to sign.
So far, so good. If that was all there was to this film it would be a painful film to watch but it would make a powerful statement for Amnesty International, for whose benefit this film seems to have been made. The incident portrayed here could be seen to be in many ways typical of crimes committed by far too many governments today. This view of government political sadism is and should be a bitter pill to swallow. But there is more of a plot to CLOSET LAND than that and there is where the film goes frustratingly wrong, making this incident anything but typical.
When we see the real reasons behind the woman writing her story "Closet land" and the real motives of the interrogator, both seem extremely contrived and built around an incredible coincidence. The interrogator pulls off a number of odd deceptions; some require talents beyond even the capabilities of Rickman to bring off. One doubts that a man as talented as the interrogator would become a government interrogator/torturer. Surely we are not meant to believe most people in this profession are this intelligent. Further undercutting the credibility is the set design of the interrogation center. One suspects in real life such places are at best utilitarian. This chamber, with its fancy furniture, its sound and light equipment, its decorative columns, its functional yet decorative file drawers, creates just the wrong feel.
What is needed is a story that one can tell oneself is being repeated on a daily basis in many countries around the world. Instead, we have a story we doubt could have ever happened. That makes this film a curiosity rather than a powerful statement. I give it a 0 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
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