Besieged Review
by Greg King (gregking AT netau DOT com DOT au)September 14th, 1999
BESIEGED (M).
(NewVision)
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Stars: Thandie Newton, David Thewlis, Claudio Santamarta, John C Ojwang Running time: 95 minutes.
Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci's films often unfold on a sprawling canvas (the epic 1900 and the Oscar-winning The Last Emperor, etc), while others court controversy (Last Tango In Paris). While some of his works are visually lush, many are also interminably dull (The Sheltering Sky and Little Buddha, etc). Bertolucci's latest film is a far more intimate and personal story, yet it still embraces many of his favourite themes.
Set in contemporary Rome, Besieged is a poignant tale about the coming together of two strangers, lonely and lost people, who are held hostage to matters of the heart. Shandurai (Thandie Newton, from Flirting, etc) is a refugee from an African nation in turmoil. Her husband, a school teacher and political activist, has been arrested and detained by the military regime. Shandurai is studying medicine at a Rome university hospital, and earns extra money by cleaning the apartment block in which she resides. It is while performing these daily duties that she first meets Kinsky (David Thewlis, the narcissistic anti-hero from Mike Leigh's Naked, etc), a musician who eschews the public forum.
Kinsky is infatuated by the beguiling Shandurai, but she is still haunted by the palpable presence of her husband. "If you really loved me, you would get my husband out of jail," she snaps at him one day. And slowly but surely, Kinsky proceeds to do just that. He begins to sell off his valuable possessions, including his beloved piano, to secretly negotiate her husband's release. Shandurai is ignorant of Kinsky's intentions until the end, when she is ultimately forced to choose between the two very different men who have become important parts of her life. However, Bertolucci cleverly ends the film on a hauntingly ambiguous, enigmatic but optimistic note, that forces the audience to draw their own conclusions as to what will happen next.
Bertolucci directs with remarkable restraint and understatement, making this allusive, meditative film a surprisingly powerful and moving experience. Like a great composer, he slowly pulls the various elements together for a rewarding emotional crescendo. However, many within the audience may find the pacing rather slow. Others will be deeply involved in the emotional journey of the two characters.
The film is held together by the moving, engaging and quite sympathetic central performances. In particular, Newton, whose anguished and painful performance as a former slave was the best feature of the dire Beloved, gives another wonderful performance of great vulnerability and depth. Thewlis is full of nervous mannerisms and jittery movements that wonderfully capture the energy of a man uncomfortable and unsure of his place in the world. The peripheral characters add colour to the film, although dramatically they add little.
Besieged has been ravishingly shot by Fabio Cianchetti, whose use of hand-held cameras gives the story a more intimate perspective. Music plays an important part in underscoring the emotional heart of the film, and Bertolucci weaves in everything from classical sonatas to primitive African rhythms.
Besieged reaffirms Bertolucci's reputation as one of the great craftsmen of contemporary cinema.
**1/2
greg king
http://www.netau.com.au/gregking
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