Bride Flight: Roy Batty Dies In The Beginning

I bet you thought this movie was going to be about Rutger Hauer.

Here's a review of a film that an "editor" refused to publish. "Too rant-like," and "too many Rutger Hauer references." And those are bad things? Anyway:

Bride Flight is an earnest, (if uneven) melodrama following three war brides who emigrate to New Zealand after World War II to join husbands they hardly know. There’s plenty of promising elements to this film - there's the backdrop of the early 50's, the giant and irrevocable life change uprooting three women from Holland to a strange new life in New Zealand (which in the '40's might as well be literally the middle of nowhere), and a love triangle that somehow becomes a quadrangle.

The major letdown: the opening scenes introduce Rutger Hauer, (who at age 67 can still own the screen) as Frank, a vintner whose death brings together the three women of his past. The major problem of the film can be summed up thusly: lack of Rutger Hauer. As Frank dies in a vineyard, we flash way back to the titular flight of brides. Despite the relatively bankable presence of Hauer, the real focus is on the brides he meets on the plane to New Zealand. Esther (Anna Drijver) is a tough-as-nails fashion designer. Marjorie (Elise Schaap) is a snooty rich-girl with a devil-may-care flapper attitude. Ada (Karina Smulders) comes from simple "farm stock" and once young Frank sees her in her future wedding dress, sparks fly.

It’s another touch of the unabashedly melodramatic. Frank comes in and they share those Meaningful Looks so crucial to these kinds of romantic dramas. Suddenly, the plane hits a convenient lightening storm, sending luggage and bodies flying around. Predictably enough, Ada ends up in Frank’s arms and the two share a brief, passionate kiss during a layover (it’s a long flight, indeed).

Despite Ada and Frank’s love at first sight, Ada has been married by proxy to a devoutly religious man who never really attempts to get to know her. The other ladies head off to their respective lives. There are interesting, unexpected touches in this film – such as the sequence following Ada and her new husband through a tidy suburban neighborhood. Ada gazes hopefully at the rows of neat little houses… only to discover that her new home is an abandoned WWII pillbox on the side of a mountain, which her husband is renovating… and which is missing a wall.   

Marjorie marries a nice man but miscarries (a melodrama staple) and may never have children again. Esther ends up sleeping with Frank and finds herself pregnant with his unwanted child, meets up with Marjorie and… well, this stuff pretty much writes itself, doesn’t it? Much of the film focuses on Marjorie and Esther and the choices they make.

Halfway through the film, the major plot thread becomes Ada and Frank’s torrid affair, culminating in a surprisingly graphic sex scene around three-quarters of the way in. The script has stacked the deck so shamelessly against Ada’s husband that by then we are rooting for the lovers, despite the ever-present knowledge that perhaps we shouldn’t be.

Everyone living meets up years later for Frank’s funeral, played very well by a group of older actors, but the clumsy flashback structure is one of the film’s major problems. A nicely-written and underplayed scene will suddenly cut to a shamelessly over-acted batch of teary nonsense.

On the plus side, the cinematography makes the most of New Zealand’s beautiful landscapes, although the film’s modest budget tends to show at times. There were a few shots where I caught a glimpse of modern-style cars at the edge of the frame.

Getting back to my first big complaint: lack of Rutger Hauer! This iconic actor dies off in the first scene and is never seen again. Except as a corpse. It doesn’t help that the absolutely hopeless actor playing the young Frank, Waldemar Torenstra, has all the depth and subtlety of Hayden Christiansen in the Star Wars prequels (which is to say: none - in case my bilious sarcasm was a hair too faint.) If you stick with it, Bride Flight becomes fairly engrossing, but only for about a grand total of a half-hour. This film may have been meant as an ensemble piece, but the story’s focus swings back to Frank and Ada far too much, touching back on the other characters at only the most plot-convenient times.

Maybe I’m being too hard on Bride Flight. It’s certainly watchable and fitfully entertaining. The trailers frontload the presence of Rutger Hauer for an American audience, clearly teasing him as a main character. Those interested in the actor might go out of their way to see this, only to discover that he’s a background player. There was no need to pander to an American crowd this way. I kept wondering when I’d see Rutger Hauer again, and thus wasn’t terribly invested in anything else going on. I can recommend this movie… but just barely.