Tropic of Emerald (1998)

Genres - Historical Film  |   Sub-Genres - Historical Epic, War Drama  |   Run Time - 127 min.  |   Countries - Netherlands  |  
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Synopsis by Bhob Stewart

Dutch director Orlow Seunke (The Taste of Water) made this Dutch historical drama with Dutch, English, and Indonesian dialogue. Set in Indonesia of the early '40s, the epic opens on attractive Indo-European nightclub singer Ems (Esmee de la Bretoniere), married to aging club owner Herman (Bram van der Vlugt). She falls romantically for young Dutchman Theo (Pierre Bokma), who's arrived to work at his uncle's rubber plantation. The affair ends when invading Japanese arrive in 1942. With Theo imprisoned, Ems is forced to sleep with a Japanese officer to keep Theo alive. Both Theo and Ems recount these events in a voiceover narration, while archival black-and-white footage gives the dramatized events a more complete historical perspective. Shown at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival.

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High Production Values