The Clearing (2004)

I was watching this movie and everything reminded me of the Gerrit Heijn kidnapping in the Netherlands in 1987. I even regognised the road and the bridge where the murder took place. It is near Wolfheze in the woods, just next to the A12 highway from Utrecht to Arnhem. I could find no credits anywhere and only one mention on Wikipedia. I can only suspect the family never gave permission for this movie. And I believe they are right. All the characters are flat and there is no depth in them. This movie could not hold my attention and I think it was a waste of time on three great actors. We have a Dutch saying: Shoemaker stay with your own tools, meaning you should always stick with what you do best. This is so true for Pieter Jan Brugge. A good producer does not make a good director

Fmovies: My wife and I saw this movie at the Sundance Film festival and were very entertained with it. A wealthy businessman played by Robert Redford is kidnapped by a loser played by Willem Defoe. This is a very low key movie that lets the suspense build slowly until the climax. The characters are realistic and the plot is believable. Screen play has some twists which were not overdone. Robert Redford and Willem Defoe were both at their best. Wife's part played by Helen Mirren was one of the most difficult emotionally and she showed an outstanding performance. Overall the cast's acting was very good. If you like sophisticated thrillers you shouldn't miss this one.

I wanted to like this film, and certainly there is room for a psychological character-driven movie which doesn't go for the cheap thrills. Yet, for the enjoyment of a movie, one requires a believable plot, some pacing and editing, and a feeling of involvement. In The Clearing, what starts out as an intriguing mystery, with a kidnapping and unknown motives, turns into a slow draggy pointless exercise. Nothing much really happens, and the so-called character-driven angles (as expressed by the director in his commentary) really don't add up to much.

Fine actors are wasted here. Robert Redford does his best trying to engage and outwit Willem Dafoe. Dafoe brings a bit of nuance to his character, insofar as one can feel somewhat sympathetic towards him. It's unfortunate that Dafoe has been typecast as a villain, he's gone into the Christopher Walken Hall of Fame of Typecasting.

Wendy Crewson is usually good but her character's entry into the movie was brief and contrived, and I was wondering why they even bothered to introduce her character. By far the biggest waste of talent was Helen Mirren. In the director's commentary, all I heard was how fabulous a talent she is. I agree, she's a great actress. Then why was she not used properly? Only towards the climax of this movie does she get to show herself, but by then the viewer has quit caring.

Too bad, I liked parts of this movie, but as another reviewer wrote, once you're halfway in you know the film is not going to get much better.

The Clearing fmovies. "The Clearing" is a taut, suspenseful kidnapping story.

But the tension is primarily ratcheted up not by action, but what we learn what stuff each of the characters is made of, particularly as to how superbly Helen Mirren and Willem Dafoe surround Robert Redford.

Ironically, Mirren's husband Taylor Hackford directed a more muddled take on a very similar story line in "Proof of Life," which couldn't decide if it was an action movie or a drama. Here first-time writer Justin Haythe and director Pieter Jan Brugge are more focused, even while playing a few tricks on the viewer with time-shifting "Rashomon" rewinds, though there are a couple of questionable holes in the story as it takes surprising directions.

It's a relief to finally see Redford in a role fitting his age, with an age-appropriate spouse and adult children, including Alessandro Nivola not playing his usual sensual snake. It's nice to see Mirren get to play an attractive, rich matron who can carry off nice clothes and hair styles as she usually hides herself in her roles.

This was, hands down, the biggest surprise of a film that I have encountered in a very long time. I had to watch this film twice to fully understand and appreciate the value placed behind it. The Clearing was one of those films that didn't do well at the box-office, so people didn't bother seeing it when it was released on video. I must admit, I was one of them. I thought Redford and Dafoe doing another classic kidnapping film would be just another canister in the Hollywood recycling bin, but I was wrong Â… actually, I was dead wrong. This film brought more than just a kidnapping caper to the table, it brought some family drama, the unbreakable bond between husband and wife, and the idea of the American Dream as told by two ends of the spectrum. I can see why this film didn't do well with the brainwashed by action/adventure crowd, because there actually needed to be some thinking involved to truly appreciate this captivating film.

To begin, this is not a linear story. I loved this. It kept me guessing throughout the entire film as to what was happening to Redford's character while the drama at home continued to build. Here we have the events happening to Redford going on in real time and how the pressures of the immediate threat are being handled, but then you have the family struggle, which is taking place over several days to show how easily something like this can devastate and ravish a family. This also allowed us to become more emotionally attached to Redford's family as well as to Redford himself. Strangely, I found myself equally attached to Willem Dafoe's character due to my experience living in the middle of the income line. There seemed to be some honesty and truth in the banter between Redford and Dafoe that I honestly never saw coming. Here we had two humans out in nature discussing life and death as if this was their final moments on the planet. We had front row seats with the ability to hear how these two grown men handled the stress of their day to day activities, and how we could somehow relate.

This was a film about relating, about understanding the pressures that these individual people were experiencing. Redford was perfect, as this tired father who lusts for life, but just doesn't quite show it until the final moments are settling in. Dafoe should have won an Oscar for his role in this film as a very humble kidnapper who takes pride in what he is doing as well as does it with the highest amount of kindness in his heart. He does it for his wife. This brings a smile on my face to say, but this is a film about wives. Each of these men are going through life to ensure that their wife stays happy and in love with them. Dafoe thinks it can happen by having enough money so his wife will not work, Redford sees it too late and reminds his wife of a happy time in their marriage. It is sad, from one married man to another it is a very personal and touching story about the woman that is your soul mate. Then, as if director Pieter Jan Brugge, didn't stab our hearts enough, he gives us this expanded look at Redford's family and the inner struggles they are facing with not knowing if their father is alive.

What is so interesting about this is that before this event took place, there was not much of a family dynamic going on in Redford's house. They were stale, and strangely this horrific event brought them closer together than imagined. We get to see the unparalleled emotion behind Helen Mirren that I have not seen in a very long time. If she would not have done t

the story of this movie is not that big deal, you see a lot of movies like these all around the world, but, the impressive acting skills of William Dafoe and Mirren, that what gave this movie a taste.

The story was predictable, although the ending was surprising a little bet, I expected something different.

What i loved most about the movie was the acting, William Dafoe was really into the character, he played well, and i was impressed.

Also Mirren Played such a wonderful role, I liked the way she was cool and all quiet, you didn't see her fall apart at the end when she gets the bad news, wonderful performance she did, i think it's the best role she ever played.