Waiting for the Barbarians

Louisa Moore - Screen Zealots

6.0

August 31, 2020

Adapted by Nobel Prize winning author J.M. Coetzee from his own book, “Waiting for the Barbarians” is a timely screen retelling of the darkest (and most the most cruel) aspects of colonialism. This period film sadly reflects issues many are dealing with in present day: a society that’s relentless in its quest to oppress “the other.” An...

tmdb28039023

6.0

August 25, 2022

In Waiting for the Barbarians' Colonel Joll, Johnny Depp has crafted a great movie villain. I would describe him as either a colonial Darth Vader or a proto-Nazi – and concerning the latter, the character is a textbook illustration of Hannah Arendt's 'banality of evil;' perfectly circumspect, not a single hair out of place, not a single w...

CinemaSerf

6.0

February 25, 2023

Despite a strong cast, this is really rather a dirge of a watch. Sir Mark Rylance is the colonial magistrate in a frontier province that inspecting "Col. Joll" (Johnny Depp) believes is about to bear the brunt of an attack from the eponymous enemy. Despite there only appearing to be sheep farmers adjacent to their fortified town, he proce...