Land of the Blind
by Robert Edwards
List Price:
Our Price: $2.00
You Save: $17.99 (90%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Donald Sutherland, Lara Flynn Boyle, Marc Warren, Ralph Fiennes, Tom HollanderDirector: Robert Edwards
Brand: Uni
Writer: Robert Edwards
Producer: Alan Latham
Producer: Alex Brown
Producer: Burdette Anderson
Producer: Cerise Hallam Larkin
Producer: Douglas W. Miller
Producer: Ferne Pearlstein
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 101 minutes
Published: 2006-08-01
DVD Release Date: 2006-08-15
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Bauer
Movie Reviews of Land of the Blind
Movie Review: The Infinite Sadness of the Truly Free
Summary: 5 Stars
What is freedom? What is happiness and where do we find ourselves if we're pursuing them too enthusiastically? Pol Pot's Cambodia, Lenin's Russia, Khomeini's Iran, Castro's Cuba, Kim's North Korea, Hitler's Germany, Robespierre's France, Ceausescu's Romania... early 3d Millennium America? And then, there's 'the day(s) after'. What do we do after we defeat and punish our tormentors, once the victory is ours and our power seems to be absolute. We find more enemies, what else. And we work hard at it. And we keep going until it's our turn to the guillotine or to the labor camps.
This is not an easy to watch movie because it's not an us vs. them pattern (us good, them bad) but rather 'us' and 'them' taking turns to be the baddies, an exercise in self-destruction and perpetual humiliation. Just to make sure that we get the message, it all starts with 'them' in power, then one of 'them' replaces another, then 'us' manage to overthrow 'them', then 'us' turn against ourselves and become worse then 'them', then 'they' come back.
On that background, that who was the tool of the oppressor (Hollander) turns into a tool of the liberator (Sutherland) who, in turn, becomes oppressor but he (Fiennes) will never be a tool again as he accepts his fate of the forever prisoner. There's nothing original about this. Thoreau noted that "under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison ... the only house in a slave State in which a free man can abide with honor." And Fiennes, playing 'Joe the good soldier' keeps his honor intact and keeps himself in jail.
Like I said, this is not an easy movie to watch. Black and white, shocking archive scenes - Edison electrocuting an elephant - are blended with with images of torture or kitsch luxury and grotesque orgies. We, who never came close to a Pol Pot-induced nightmare are likely to look the other way when unwashed prisoners, using their own feces to write slogans on their jail's walls, pop up on the screen. Like those legendary frogs, we still feel comfortable while the gradually warmer water is slowly cooking us into a delicious, nutritious, totalitarian soup. It can never happen here we think as we try to make ourselves watch for a while longer. Only that it can because this IS our human nature, to do whatever it takes to dominate and humiliate our fellow humans, to show them who is in charge and to make them accept us as the ones in charge. And we never seem to learn.
I don't know if I'm going to watch this movie again soon but I am glad that I did watch it once. Watching it is not entertainment and it can be painful but it can be good medicine too, providing some temporary relief to some diseases that come with our human nature. 'Memento mori' - remember that you will die - the victorious Roman warriors were reminded at the moment of their triumph. That, and, remember that you are probably played like a pawn in some more or less subtle domination game.
Robert Edwards, writer and director, Sutherland, Fiennes, everyone who was part of this project deserves praise, respect and appreciation for their courage, their understanding and their hard work. I don't believe anyone got rich out of this effort but everyone should feel good about themselves for doing what had to be done and making a statement that had to be made.
Summary of Land of the Blind
A soldier recounts his relationship with a famous political prisoner attempting to overthrow their countrys totalitarian government. Studio: Uni Dist Corp (music) Release Date: 08/15/2006 Starring: Ralph Fiennes Lara Flynn Boyle Run time: 101 minutesSimilar DVD Movies
LevityTHORNTON,BILLY BOB; Release date: 2003-08-26; Published: 2003-08-01; DVD
Best price: $1.87
Price in other shops:
A Scanner DarklyWarner Brothers; Release date: 2006-12-19; DVD
Best price: $2.42
Price in other shops:
The ReaderGenius; Release date: 2009-04-14; DVD
Best price: $4.25
Price in other shops:
The End of the AffairFIENNES,RALPH; Release date: 2000-05-16; DVD
Best price: $3.98
Price in other shops:
OneginLions Gate; Release date: 2000-07-04; DVD
Best price: $58.98
Strange DaysFIENNES,RALPH; Release date: 2002-05-21; DVD
Best price: $3.98
Price in other shops:
SpiderSony; Release date: 2003-07-29; Published: 2003-07-01; DVD
Best price: $9.94
Price in other shops:
Bernard and DorisHBO Home Video; Release date: 2008-04-29; DVD
Best price: $5.01
Price in other shops:
The English Patient (Miramax Collector's Edition)Buena Vista Home Video; Release date: 2004-06-29; DVD
Best price: $9.81
Price in other shops:
The Constant Gardener (Widescreen Edition)NBC Universal; Release date: 2006-01-10; DVD
Best price: $1.99
Price in other shops: