Bosque de Sombras (The Backwoods) 2007
Starring Gary Oldman, Paddy Considine, Virginie Ledoyen
Directed by Koldo Serra
Australian DVD Release - TBA
I’m not even sure where to begin with the English/Spanish collaboration starring the usually reliable Gary Oldman and Paddy Considine.
‘Straw Dogs meets Deliverance/The Hills Have Eyes’ in the Spanish wilderness is one throwaway description for it.
Given its pedigree, The Backwoods promises an exciting, Eurocentric take on a well-worn American formula, but ends up delivering something so weak in execution that there is little for B-grade aficionados to sink their teeth into and even less for the uppity arthouse crowd.
What could have been a gripping thriller gets bogged down in laughable dialog and character logic, uninspired direction and a plot lacking the taut cohesion a good thriller demands.
There is an unfinished feel to the film, as if what we are watching is a cut down version of something more substantial and engaging.
Set in the late 1970s, Lucy (Ledoyen) and Norman (Considine), a young married couple whose relationship is going through a rough patch, decide to visit an English friend, Paul (Oldman), who lives with his Spanish wife Isabel in the Basque region of Spain.
The isolated ramshackle house seems the ideal spot for a quiet holiday and the chance for Lucy and Norman to sort out their emotional problems.
However, their peace is shattered when Paul and Norman discover a cabin in the forest where a deformed girl is being held captive.
Their attempts to take the girl to the police are hampered by the difficulties of the heavily wooded terrain and the intervention of a group of villagers who are determined to keep the girl locked away for good.
Considine - who was excellent in the past few Shane Meadows films - looks lost and while Oldman brings his usual acting ferocity to the table, not even he can elevate The Backwoods from the depths of bland, un-involving tedium.
Predicable violence and some woeful acting from the lovely Virginie Ledoyen (best known outside France as Leo’s love interest in The Beach), make the film a hard slog for all the wrong reasons.
Ledoyen moans and drones her way through proceedings, looking decidedly bored and emotionless, even when an ugly hillbilly attempts to rape her.
By the end of it, viewers will question what the point of this was and care even less about who survives the night.