“A Far Off Place” is an outdoor adventure for older children that is uncommonly well-crafted and resonant. The first theatrical feature to be directed by the talented cinematographer Mikael Salomon (“The Abyss,” “Always”), it’s a film with sufficient visual sweep and emotional amplitude to suggest such classics of the genre as Fritz Lang’s “Moonfleet” and Alexander Mackendrick’s “A Boy Ten Feet Tall.”
The vaguely colonialist plot line-the film is based on two books written in the 1950s by South African author Laurens van der Post-has been unobtrusively updated by a team of screenwriters to embrace contemporary concerns with gender roles and multiculturalism.
Instead of a staunchly Caucasian, teen male protagonist, there is now an independent-minded adolescent girl, Nonnie Parker (Reese Witherspoon, of “The Man in the Moon”), who lives on the edge of the Kalahari desert with her father, an ecological activist who has earned the wrath of a ruthless local band of ivory poachers.
Late one night, the poachers attack, killing Nonnie’s parents and burning down the family farm, though Nonnie is safe, having holed up in a nearby cave with Harry Winslow (Ethan Randall), an over-urbanized 14-year-old on a reluctant vacation from his home in New York.
With the poachers on their trail, the kids realize that their only hope is to cross the immense, thousand-mile desert, and find help in the city that lies on its other side. They are accompanied in their epic trek by Nonnie’s best friend, a Bushman named Xhabbo (Sarel Bok), who teaches them the survival techniques of his people.
As one would expect from a former cinematographer, Salomon is very attentive to the texture of his images, working with director of photography Juan Ruiz-Anchia to create some thrilling widescreen compositions and using camera movement-helicopter mounts and graceful crane shots-to accentuate the sense of infinite space.
But Salomon also seems gifted for dramatic interaction, transforming a relationship that might otherwise be a nest of cliches into something tender, believable and uncondescending. The journey is, of course, a metaphorical one as well, as the two teenagers gain maturity from their experiences, moving toward a sense of self-reliance and mutual respect. There is a love story here, though it’s sufficiently implicit not to turn off young male viewers.
Less effective is a subplot involving Maximilian Schell as a government anti-poaching officer who is glimpsed, from time to time, searching for the missing children by helicopter. The story doesn’t seem to need him, and when he does finally enter the action, it’s only to tie up some loose ends.
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“A Far Off Place” is a co-production between the Walt Disney Co. and Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment, and seems to combine the best of both entities.
Like classic Disney, the film possesses a profound sense of the psychology of adolescence, portraying the entry into adulthood with a vivid and authentic blend of fear and excitement. Like the best Spielberg, it smoothly assembles a number of action set-pieces into a satisfying whole, finding a rhythm that holds the audience from start to finish. “A Far Off Place” is a first-rate piece of work.
Showing with “A Far Off Place” is “Trail Mix-Up,” a new, nine-minute Roger Rabbit cartoon directed by Barry Cook in pious homage to the late, great Tex Avery. Set in a state park, where Roger is asked to supervise Baby Herman for a few fateful minutes, “Trail Mix-Up” is very fast, very funny and-despite its G rating-vastly more violent than anything on display in the PG “Far Off Place.”
”A FAR OFF PLACE” (STAR)(STAR)(STAR)
Directed by Mikael Salomon; screenplay by Robert Caswell and Jonathan Hensleigh and Sally Robinson; photographed by Juan Ruiz-Anchia; production designed by Gemma Jackson; edited by Ray Lovejoy; music by James Horner; produced by Eva Monley and Elaine Sperber. A Walt Disney Pictures release; opens March 12 at the Water Tower, Webster Place and outlying theaters. Running time: 1:44. MPAA rating: PG. Violence.
THE CAST
Nonnie Parker…………………………………….Reese Witherspoon
Harry Winslow………………………………………..Ethan Randall
John Ricketts………………………………………..Jack Thompson
Xhabbo………………………………………………….Sarel Bok
Paul Parker…………………………………………..Robert Burke