In 1997, Cate Blanchett landed a more prominent role in Paradise Road, directed by Bruce Beresford.
The cast included Glenn Close, Pauline Collins, Jennifer Ehle, Frances McDormand, Julianna Margulies, Elizabeth Spriggs, and Cate Blanchett.
It’s a film that’s not widely discussed now, but it tells the true story of a group of women who were taken to what were essentially Japanese concentration camps during the last four years of World War II, on the island of Sumatra.
In the film, Cate Blanchett plays Susan McCarthy, an Australian nurse who, along with other women, ends up in a camp, subjected to grueling workdays, without medicine, and humiliated by the Japanese soldiers in charge.
Cate portrays a sweet young nurse, but one with great maturity, fortitude, and inner strength to persevere and overcome the fear of death that the soldiers try to instill in the camp.
Beyond any criticism it might generate, the action and intensity come from the protagonists’ actions. It shows how, within the groups of women themselves, some act as enemies while others immediately form a sisterhood focused on survival.
Within that struggle for survival, the camp women found music as a source of motivation and hope, forming a choir led by Glenn Close and Pauline Collins.
What broke our hearts was learning at the end that the voices in the choir we hear in the film belong to the women who were actually in the camp.
We think Cate Blanchett’s performance is outstanding, accompanied by women who were already renowned in film when she was just starting out.
You can immediately see what she’s made of in the scene where she’s punished by one of the camp captains.
We highly recommend watching it.
