Starring Glenn Close, Frances McDormand, Pauline Collins and Julianna Margulies Directed by Bruce Beresford Rated R, with brief but unsettling violence Running time 114 minutes Jack gives this film a rating of 7 out of 10

(April 25, 1997) -- There is much to admire in Bruce Beresford's Paradise Road. It is, after all, a true story of courage over adversity, detailing the hardships of a group of female Allied prisoners held by the Japanese during World War II.

And the women are played by an experienced international cast, headed by Glenn Close, recent Oscar winner Frances McDormand, Julianna Margulies and Pauline Collins.

Based on memoirs and interviews with survivors, Beresford tells of the struggles of a disparate group of Australian, American and European women, including military nurses and wives of businessmen and diplomats, captured when Japanese soldiers overrun Singapore and Sumatra.

They endure many months of starvation, disease, torture and despair under the thumb of a sadistic commandant, in a bamboo prison camp in steamy Sumatra. When one young woman contacts local natives to secure medicine, she is torched before the horrified eyes of her fellow prisoners.

Medical care is negligible. The camp's only health resource is a mysterious and cynical prisoner, a German Jew (Frances McDormand) who obviously has some sort of medical training.

But several of the POWs discover balm in the music they make as part of a prison camp choir, formed by Adrienne Pargiter (Close) and Margaret Drummond (Collins), both of whom have musical backgrounds.

This is no typical choir. The women know orchestral music, not songs; they form the choir to perform a cappella versions of such pieces as Dvorak's "New World" Symphony and a Tchaikovsky string quartet, employing melodic "oohs" and "aahs" to replace the violins, cellos and other instruments.

Organizing the choir is no easy task, for the women have no written music -- they must write out the choir parts from memory. Rehearsals also are a challenge, since the Japanese won't allow large groups to congregate; singers must rehearse alone or in small units.

And when they finally come together to perform, it's at great risk. They can only hope that the beauty of their music will soothe their savage captors.

It is hard to fault the performances in Paradise Road, or the story.

The WAY it is told, though, is less impressive. Despite Bruce Beresford's track record as the Oscar-nominated creator of Breaker Morant and Driving Miss Daisy, his narrative structure for Paradise Road often seems unimaginative and static. He fails to generate enough emotional crescendos; instead of building to a wrenching finale, the film quietly fades in the final reel.

Part of the problem is the familiarity of the material -- few Japanese POW films can withstand comparisons to David Lean's masterful Bridge on the River Kwai.

I think the solution for Beresford is somehow to be found in the lovely music generated by the camp choir under trying circumstances. When the choir finally performs, the effect is magical -- but the film is far from over.

If that part of the story could have been given more dramatic impetus, Paradise Road could have been far more than the modest achievement it is.