Safe Passage

Buy This Item Safe Passage by New Line Home Video  Available from Amazon  $14.98  on 9-22-2008     This family drama, based on a novel by Ellyn Bache, is overly familiar in its concentration of cracked secrets and family revelations all pouring down during a brief crisis. But it has a fine cast led by Susan Sarandon, and they make the whole enterprise a watchable affair. Sarandon plays a middle-aged mother of a brood of mostly grown sons. Suffering from empty-nest syndrome, she tends toward anxious dreams in which one or another of the boys is missing overseas. After having a nightmare that one--a Marine assigned to a Sinai peacekeeping force--has been hurt, word comes that a terrorist attack has indeed left his status in question. As the rest of the family gathers in the glare of fear--including Sarandon's estranged husband (Sam Shepard), suffering some form of (metaphorical) blindness--lots of unspoken things are said about old rivalries, ancient grievances, etc. It's all a bit thickly designed, but the likes of Robert Sean Leonard, Sean Astin, Marcia Gay Harden, Nick Stahl, and most of all Sarandon make it entirely palatable. <I>--Tom Keogh</I> Reader Reviews An overprotective mother crosses over the boundary of the emotional barriers when she fears her son's death in a military explosion and must wait for the official notice. On the other hand a desperate man who want to be redeemed, and the eldest son who tries to keep the family together will be the dramatic coordinates of this unusual film, of notorious level and high artistic virtues. Consider the year: 1994; and two futures Oscar winners: Marcia Gay Harden and Susan Sarandon; besides add the presence of Sam Shepard and Robert Sean Leonard and the fine direction of Robert Allen Ackerman.

Safe Passage Available from Amazon Price: $14.98 Updated on 9-22-2008.

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