PARADISE ROAD

M-Net to screen drama about group of women in a Japanese POW camp.

On March 5 at 22h45, M-Net will screen Paradise Road directed by Bruce Beresford in 1997 and starring Glenn Close, Cate Blanchett, Jennifer Ehle, Frances McDormand and Julianna Margulies.

Paradise Road is a true life WWII drama about a group of American, English and Australian women who find a sense of purpose and solidarity in a Japanese POW camp.

It’s a little known fact that during World War II, Allied women and children were held in prisoner-of-war camps across the East Indies. This inspirational film, based on the memoirs of survivors and starring some of today’s most respected female stars, focuses on one such camp on the island of Sumatra.

Set in 1942, the story begins when a group of Allied soldiers and their wives and girlfriends are forced to flee Singapore when the city falls to the Japanese. They escape by boat, but one boat is sunk and a group of women are captured and thrown into a Japanese POW camp. As they fight for survival, they keep their spirits up by forming an astonishing vocal choir that astounds their fellow prisoners and their guards.