Waiting for the Barbarians

“Waiting for the Barbarians” is a morality tale based on J.M. Coetzee’s novel of the same name. Director Ciro Guerra takes Coetzee’s screenplay and delivers a film that is beautiful and cruel, epic, yet more intimate than you would imagine.

“Barbarians” takes place in the desert on the edge of the Empire, where The Magistrate (Mark Rylance) and his people live an idyllic simple life on the edge of the desert. There is peace and life is good for all until the day Colonel Joll (Johnny Depp), a member of the Third Bureau, rides into town to investigate the motives of the nomadic barbarians that linger beyond the walls of the outpost. The community is thrown into flux as Colonel Joll’s investigation methods bring a dark cloud over them and threaten the very peace they’ve enjoyed for years.

Once Colonel Joll and his force leave the outpost, the Magistrate goes about putting everything back to the way things were before the troops arrived. Things are pretty much back to normal when winter comes and he extends generosity to a vagrant woman and hires her to assist in his home. As time passes, he discovers that she’s yet another victim of Joll’s cruelty.

The Magistrate’s generosity ultimately takes him beyond the walls of the outpost. In his absence, Colonel Joll’s sends Officer Mandel (Robert Pattinson) to investigate the Magistrate’s performance and it’s found to be wanting. Joll’s force sets up shop, throws the Magistrate into jail and the outpost becomes complacent in their torturous actions.

All comes to a head as Joll and his forces venture beyond the sanctuary of the outposts walls to bring “justice” to the barbarians and find that carrying out their orders won’t be as easy as they thought.

Depp and Rylance hold court throughout the movie. Both command your attention, but it’s Depp who packs a punch. The film is slow burn throughout, but Depp turns up the heat with his portrayal of Colonel Joll. The character is obviously over the top with stiff actions and Depp’s overused accent he’s adopted in recent years, but when he’s on-screen, the tension is tight as a guitar string.

Rylance’s performance, on the other hand, is one of subtly and nuance. His vocal delivery is enough to lull you to sleep, but it’s precisely what the character requires. At one point in the film, you see his shred Pattinson’s character to the core with a simple question and not many actors could achieve this.

Speaking of Pattinson – his appearance in the film is bewildering. The role doesn’t offer much in the way of substance and Pattinson’s performance is interesting at times, but overall it’s a dull offering from a talented actor.

Gana Bayarsaikhan plays The Girl in the film and is terrific. She relays the emotional scars of a young woman broken for no other reason than a means to an end. This is the reality of the barbarian characters, but Guerra uses Bayarsailhan’s character to show the emotional scars and the immense pride of the people she represents.

“Waiting for the Barbarians” feels caught between two worlds. On the one hand, it feels like it’s meant to be this large epic tale that is a clash of two ideas of how things should be handled when dealing with people of different cultures. One character even states that war is how we get people to do what we want them to do.

On the other, it’s an intimate story of how decisions and actions, no matter how small, shape who we are and the lives of those around us. Rylance, Depp and Bayarsaikhan give wonderful performances and cinematographer Chris Menges provides the audience with a beautifully shot film to savor.