Simply Perfect

People are voting emotionally.

A lot of fun.

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

This was an almost unrealistically ambitious co-production between Belgium and a whole bunch of other countries, but the many different sources of interference don't hurt the finished product as much as I thought it would. More funding brings more supplies, and that shows. Paul Cox may not be a particularly skilled director, but his country does appear to have a lot of money so it evens out. The visual style to this movie looks really professional, sometimes it'll give you a made for TV-vibe, but that will just be a sporadic feel. The screenplay has some pacing problems, but that doesn't mean it's slow. It just keeps randomly changing in pace, which isn't nearly as exciting as you'd think. There are bunches of scenes where there's nothing happening, but when father Damien ends up contracting leprosy, the movie suddenly looks like it's sick of itself and just takes every possible shortcut to the ending. I do like that very last line though, as corny as it may be, and it is very corny. The biggest plus this movie has is the performance by David Wenham. Hiring an Australian guy to play Damien sounds like the worst idea ever, but he's really authentic. He's pretty much why I kept watching. This movie is fairly well-made, but there's room for improvement.

this story, one supposes, had to be told. The depiction here is historically accurate and quite factual.There are many who would look upon the work of Father Damien and his associates as most courageous and heroic. Others would scoff and label him slightly deranged to take on a project working intimately with dying lepers.The story here does seem a bit one-sided. True, there are some higher ups that would like to curtail Damien's enthusiasm. Yet no one ever challenges him on the philosophical premise that sacrifice and suffering are prerequisites to salvation and grace.For myself, these concepts are merely something to buy into, having no validity in truth. As for Damien's ultimate demise, I say, when one lies down with dogs, the chance of getting fleas is increased.Damien was merely a man who made choices for reasons he thought important. Since we are what we do, he bonded and became one with his lepers.The acting is quite good, and the production values adequate. There's not all that much dramatic conflict here, which gives a slow pace to the story.

Ok, so we have a Dutch/Belgium production, set & filmed in Hawaii, made by an Australian director with Australian, British & American actors. You can't accuse this film of not being an international concern!Solid acting performances by many involved, especially Jacobi, Wenham & O'Toole. Sadly the script lacks depth in many areas, had the director & producers had not been at loggerheads through most of the shoot, this could have been dealt with.Interestingly, Paul Cox still holds some bitterness over this. In a recent interview on the Australian TV channel, Showtime, Cox admitted the film was about 80% of what it could have been if he had his way & that there are too many "idiots" running the industry.Not a great film but not bad either, worth checking out but could have been a more indepth film.

This story is quite faithful to the facts of the life of this remarkable Belgian priest who chose to live in a leper colony while still a man in his early 30's even though he knew it to be a permanent assignment and a death sentence.The horrors of the leper colony were conveyed realistically while still giving a focus that would allow all but very young audiences to view it. The bureaucrats, both civil and religious, are well portrayed. -- (Derek Jacobi gives his usual fine performance in one of these roles.)This is a "must see" for anyone who has never heard the story of Father Damien or knows little about the leper colony on Molokai.