Themes: Totalitarian States, Social Injustice, Mind Games
Main Cast: Madeleine Stowe, Alan Rickman
Release Year: 1990
Country: US
Run Time: 95 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Indian-born, American-educated director Radha Bharadwaj based her allegorical thriller on the work of her husband with Amnesty International. The story concerns The Woman (Madeleine Stowe), a children's book writer who, in an unspecified country, is abducted from her bed in the middle of the night and imprisoned for writing subversive literature. She declares her books to be pure fantasies, but her well-dressed inquisitor The Man (Alan Rickman) sees the books as allegorical attacks on the State. In the form of a long dialogue between The Man and The Woman, The Man, through psychological and physical torture, attempts to get The Woman to confess. But The Woman endures, refusing to buckle under to The Man's relentless interrogation. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
Review
There are a handful of famous torture sequences in movies: Laurence Olivier performing unwanted dental work on Dustin Hoffman in Marathon Man, Michael Madsen mutilating the cop in Reservoir Dogs, and Mel Gibson on the rack at the end of Braveheart, to name just three. Closet Land is unique because it takes torture as its entire setting. Unremittingly bleak and oppressive, Radha Bharadwaj's film assaults the senses and the mind. Shot on a single, sparse set in a style that recalls German Expressionism, there is nothing to divert one's attention from the horrific interrogation. The most atrocious acts of physical violence occur off-screen, although the screams and sobs that result from them are quite audible. Torture is the milieu, but not the theme of the film. The lighting, art direction, and the fact that the only two characters are nameless all underscore the fact that Closet Land is an allegory for oppression anywhere. This is a remarkably unpleasant film to endure, which is the point -- the filmmakers harrowingly communicate that all oppression and torture are horrific. The biggest complaint that can be levied toward the film is that the audience knew this before they entered the theater. The ambiguous ending is similar to Brazil, allowing viewers to decide for themselves if retreating into the mind is escape or defeat. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
Ken Hardy - Art Director, Eiko Ishioka - Costume Designer, Radha Bharadwaj - Director, Lisa Churgin - Editor, Brian Grazer - Executive Producer, Ron Howard - Executive Producer, Richard Einhorn - Composer (Music Score), Philip Glass - Composer (Music Score), Eiko Ishioka - Production Designer, Karen Koch - Production Designer, Bill Pope - Cinematographer, Karen Koch - Producer, Janet Meyers - Producer, Gary Matteson - Set Designer, Dennis Madalone - Stunts, Radha Bharadwaj - Screenwriter
Set in an unspecified country, Stowe's character is taken from her home in the middle of the night, accused of embedding anarchistic messages into her particular book, entitled Closet Land. The book is a story about a child who, as a result of bad behaviour, has been locked in a closet as punishment. While in there, the child is greeted by a group of childhood ally archetypes who innocently attempt to comfort the scared little girl. The seemingly simple content is questioned by the government, which accuses the author of encouraging and introducing anarchism among its audience of naïve children. While the interrogator is obstinate in his belief that the author is guilty of hidden propaganda, the audience is convinced of the victim's innocence. The audience later learns that the novel was actually created as a form of escapism, providing a coping mechanism for the author, who endured sexual abuse as a child. Near the end of the film, the interrogator claims that he was the man who had sexually abused the author in her childhood. But one cannot be entirely sure he was the one who abused her, as the film suggests he was just using the abuse against her as a way of breaking her down.
It is left up to the viewer as to whether Stowe's character has in fact run afoul of the Government — or, alternatively, that the Interrogator is acting alone.
The film exhibits the use of brutal and inhumane torture to coerce confessions from innocent victims. The human rights organization Amnesty International served as consultants for the film.
Stowe and Rickman are the only credited cast in the film.
