A Far Off Place

Today we journey into the wilds of Africa to join a young Reese Witherspoon on a treacherous trek in 1993’s A Far Off Place.

The last country with a soul

Right off the bat, the film's opening sets a grim tone that will hover over everything that follows. After a big, bold disclaimer stating that all animals in the film were trained and treated with the upmost care, and any distress portrayed by them was staged (well I should hope so!), we are treated to a scene of African poachers violently shooting a family of elephants. A baby elephant frantically mewls over her family’s corpses as the poachers proceed to forcibly remove their tusks with chainsaws. Then a jeep screeches up, and out climbs Maximilian Schell, looking as bearded and crazed as ever. Uh oh, I’m thinking, he must be the evil leader of these poachers – I mean, it’s Maximilian Schell. But wrong I was, as he promptly whips out a big semi-automatic rifle and shoots each of the poachers dead. This bloody sequence (and there is a surprising amount of actual (fake) blood on display for a Disney movie) cross-fades into the opening credits, superimposed over wide vistas of wind-swept sand dunes as a sweeping orchestral score blasts from the soundtrack, like the opening to some imaginary Lawrence Of Arabia sequel.

Maximilian, the time has come to liquidate our guests...

This is all pretty harsh, Disney film or not. As we get into the main section of the film the tone lightens up somewhat, though not by much (more about that in a moment.) The main character in the film is young Nonnie Parker (played by a pre-fame Reese Witherspoon,) daughter of a family of gamekeepers, who spends her days helping with the wildlife and honing her rifle-shooting skills - in case poachers show up. I had some trouble accepting Witherspoon in the role of the hardened youth who easily communes with the natives, but I freely admit this is pure post-fame prejudice. Had I seen this movie in the years prior to Legally Blonde and Sweet Home Alabama, I would’ve applauded her performance. I imagine her recent acclaimed role in 2014’s Wild was a more mature take on her performance here.

No, no! I said bend and snap!

Nonnie and her family are visited by an old family friend, whose stuck-up New Yorker son, Harry, is played by young Ethan “Nick Pappagiorgio” Embry (still going by Ethan Randall here,) two years before his memorable turn in Empire Records. I had been going under the impression that A Far Off Place was a period piece, not a contemporary movie – until Embry’s character shows up, complaining about how boring Africa is while blasting his Sony Walkman and bemoaning the fact that there were no VCRs in sight. So I guess it’s a period piece now.

Who would've thought Nonnie had the legs of a thoroughbred. Am I right?

Before long, a group of poachers (possibly related to those from the beginning) descends upon the household and massacres the kid’s parents, along with all the locals employed at the preserve. After dispatching the poacher’s trucks with a few fistfuls of dynamite (!), the pair of youths flees into the barren Kalahari Desert. Accompanied by a young bushman named Xhabbo (played with genuine warmth by African actor Sarel Bok,) they set out on a perilous 1,250-mile trek to the coast; as Embry’s character observes, it would be like “walking from New York to Miami” (he’s off by 50 miles or so, but not a bad guess – thanks Google Maps!) At the same time, the group is sporadically pursued by the leader of the bloodthirsty poachers – not Maximilian Schell, who plays a sort-of-mentor to Nonnie in the film’s first act - but by John Ricketts (played by Australian actor Jack Thompson,) another friend of her fathers who has betrayed them. Along their way, the young trio learns to function as a family of sorts; there are many scenes of the three sharing a laugh over campfires, bonding with each other and with nature, and there’s even a budding romance between Nonnie and Harry.

The film is truly a sight to behold. The trio’s journey is presented through beautiful widescreen photography, thanks to the keen eyes of both cinematographer Juan Ruiz Anchía and first-time director Mikael Salomon (himself an Oscar-nominated cinematographer for The Abyss, among others.) The impressive colors on display - the lush reds of African sunsets, dusty yellows of endless sand dunes, and bold blues of the cloudless sky – go a long way to establish the exotic setting. The aforementioned score by James Horner helps elevate the proceedings with its power and scope, though perhaps matching the grandeur of the setting more than the story occurring onscreen.

Fun for the whole family!

It is perhaps this very scope, along with the noted grimness of the first act, which hampers much of the film. I never found myself connecting with the characters, despite the perilous situation they faced. Most of the time, Nonnie and her troupe were so focused on survival (understandably so) that it became noticeable how little time was given for them to stop and reflect on the pain of their situation. I could sense that audiences, as a result, may have been more upset about their families’ deaths than the characters themselves appear to be. The shifting bleakness of the story and beauty of the setting had a kind of desensitizing effect as I watched; I wanted to see them through to the end, but never felt the emotional fever-pitch that this kind of story needs.

If I could talk to the animals...

There are a few other oddities worth noting: there is a strong (and groan-inducingly obvious) message of animal/nature conservation, which I suppose shouldn’t be a surprise in a film whose first scene dramatizes the murder of elephants. Occasionally the idea of the native’s nobility stretches a bit far; especially in the scene where Xhabbo speaks to a pack of elephants in his native tongue, requesting that they follow behind the group in order to cover their tracks – and they do it! This seems like a 90s intellectuals’ idea of the nature-attuned “noble savage,” and actually comes across as insulting. So too does Jack Thompsons’ treacherous John Ricketts, a character so greedy and EEEEVIL that he goes way out of his way to make sure Nonnie and Harry are killed for witnessing his crimes. It reaches a nadir in a laughable “well of course he did” moment during the climax when he runs into an exploding mine in a pitifully futile attempt to save his despicable ivory stockpile.

That bloomin' ivory's worth ONE MILLION DOLLARS!

With its solemn portrayal of animal cruelty and admirable technical achievements,  A Far Off Place seems like Disney’s try at making a prestige picture. However, its forgettable characters and unfocused middle portion, attempting to soften the story with teenage romance, prevents the film from reaching as high as perhaps intended. I vaguely recall the advertisements for the movie back in the early months of 1993, promising a sweeping family adventure teeming with enchanting wildlife – and fronted by the wacky Roger Rabbit cartoon, Trail Mix-Up! While the film is undeniably beautiful, it never really seems to know what audience it wants to play to.