A Change of Guard

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Friday 30 September 2011

The Road to Freedom (2011): An Ill-Fated Journey Into Cambodia


Bajan Vista Films LLC. Joshua Fredrick Smith and Scott Maguire in "The Road to Freedom."

By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS
Published: September 29, 2011

Loosely based on the fate of Errol Flynn’s only son, Sean (woodenly portrayed by Joshua Fredric Smith), a photojournalist who disappeared in Cambodia in 1970, “The Road to Freedom” is a bona-fide howler.

Right from the get-go maintaining a straight face is impossible. Sean “had sex with countless beeyooootifool wimmin,” a grizzled fellow journalist (Tom Proctor) informs us in a weirdly accented (Clouseau? Kim Jong-il?), blessedly brief narration, while our hero prepares to comb the countryside for shots of the marauding Khmer Rouge. Soft-focus flashbacks to bedroom bliss with a Cambodian honey support this assessment, suggesting that Sean shared his father’s libido, if not his swashbuckling charm.

No matter: “The Road to Freedom” adores him anyway. Clogged with grandiose pronouncements (“Whatever is going on here is bigger than you and me both”) and bleeding-heart speeches, this telling of Sean’s ill-fated journey drags us through miles of jungle and reams of stilted, soul-sucking dialogue. Idyllic brown families frolic in his path, and a sit-down with a Buddhist monk facilitates an orgy of clunky platitudes. Even after Sean and his colleague, Dana Stone (Scott Maguire), are captured by the Khmer Rouge, the film refuses resuscitation; instead, the prisoners go fishing — and, sadly, continue to talk.

Shot in 2009 on location in Cambodia (where the then-20-year-old director, Brendan Moriarty, grew up), this starry-eyed, leaden-tongued film fizzles. David Mun’s photography is lush and lucid, but the script (by Margie Rogers and Thomas Schade) is nothing short of an embarrassment. “We came here to tell a story, and no matter what, that story needs to be told,” Sean lectures Dana in their jungle prison. Sheesh.

“The Road to Freedom” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). Angry guerrillas and lofty subordinate clauses.

THE ROAD TO FREEDOM

Opens on Friday in New York; Los Angeles; San Francisco; Boston; Chicago; and Austin, Tex.

Directed by Brendan Moriarty; written by Margie Rogers and Thomas Schade; director of photography, David Mun; edited by Sean Halloran and Ms. Rogers; music by Austin Creek; production design by David Sandeep Robert; costumes by Nop Sophorn; produced by Tom Proctor and Blu de Goyler; released by Creative Freedom. Running time: 1 hour 33 minutes.

WITH: Joshua Fredric Smith (Sean Flynn), Scott Maguire (Dana Stone), Tom Proctor (François) and Kanilen Kang (Mean).

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