The Garden of Redemption

What a dull film which only really perked up towards the very final stages. So much more could have been made of this narrative - and there was some decent acting talent on board too: Anthony La Paglia is almost always a stalwart; Peter Firth is generally good value; and Jorge Sanz is a charismatic actor and a big star in his native Spain. However Sanz was woefully under-used here, and the lead female Embeth Davidtz, while undoubtedly a reasonable actress, is best when arch and witty, but is badly miscast here as too soft and winsome.

The plot meandered, the script was lifeless, the actors had assumed horribly phony sounding accents which grated after the first five minutes: this was really was a case of direction-by-numbers. The La Paglia/Davidtz will they, won't they 'romance' was mildly intriguing - carried by LaPaglia who has to grapple with his inner conscience throughout, as he is a Catholic Priest but is clearly very attracted to Adriana (Davidtz). So this gets a 4 for LaPaglia, and for a minor fillip of interest due to a suspenseful and tragic finish.