Closet Land

Closet Land
Theatrical poster for the film
Directed by	Radha Bharadwaj
Produced by	Brian Grazer Ron Howard
Written by	Radha Bharadwaj
Starring	Madeleine Stowe Alan Rickman
Music by	Richard Einhorn Philip Glass
Cinematography	Bill Pope
Editing by	Lisa Zeno Churgin
Studio	Imagine Entertainment
Distributed by	Universal Studios
Release date(s)	March 6, 1991 September 10 (Toronto Film Festival) June 1, 1994 February 25, 1999
Running time	89 min.
Country	U.S.A.
Language	English

Closet Land is a 1991 independent film written and directed by Radha Bharadwaj. It stars Madeleine Stowe as a young author of children's books and Alan Rickman as a ruthless interrogator.

Synopsis

Set in an unspecified country, Stowe's character is taken from her home in the middle of the night, accused of embedding anarchistic messages into her book, entitled Closet Land. The book is a story about a child who, as a result of bad behaviour, has been locked in a closet as punishment. While in there, the child is greeted by a group of childhood ally archetypes who innocently attempt to comfort the scared little girl. The seemingly simple content is questioned by the government, which accuses the author of encouraging and introducing anarchism among its audience of naïve children.

While the interrogator is obstinate in his belief that the author is guilty of hidden propaganda, the audience is convinced of the victim's innocence. The audience later learns that the novel was actually created as a form of escapism, providing a coping mechanism for the author, who endured sexual abuse as a child. Near the end of the film, the interrogator claims that he was the man who had sexually abused the author in her childhood. But one cannot be entirely sure he was the one who abused her, as the film suggests he was just using the abuse against her as a way of breaking her down.

Behind the scenes

The script was Radha Bharadwaj's winning submission to The Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting program in 1989. The Nicholl Fellowships are run by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

It is left up to the viewer as to whether Stowe's character has in fact run afoul of the Government — or, alternatively, that the Interrogator is acting alone.

The film exhibits the use of brutal and inhumane torture to coerce confessions from innocent victims. The human rights organization Amnesty International served as consultants for the film.

Stowe and Rickman are the only cast of the film and they are both credited.

Radha said that this film was an outgrowth of her graduate studies at Temple University (PA), that she charmed her Hollywood producers into giving her money to do the film... and that they dropped it upon release.

Release

While Universal released the film theatrically on March 6, 1991, the film was released on videocassette six months later by Media Home Entertainment, distributed by Fox Video. In 1993, Video Treasures released a EP-Mode recorded tape of the film. A DVD has been released in Europe, but as of January 22, 2010, Universal has not yet announced any plans for a region 1 release.

See also

• Prisoner of conscience

External links

• Closet Land at the Internet Movie Database
• Closet Land at AllRovi
• Closet Land Writer/director Radha Bharadwaj's personal web site, includes an essay written by Bharadwaj about her film