In a mountainous South American country where drugs are the major crop of the economy, kidnapping is more of a lucrative investment opportunity than a punishable felony. The government is in the business of trying to stop the drug trade and allocating resources for more respectable economic ventures. In response to this, anti government Marxist guerrilla groups frequently block off traffic and raid the streets, kidnapping citizens and tourist alike, freeing the poor ones and keeping the ones who can fetch a high ransom price. Soon they realize this can bring in even more money than the drug trade, and change into a professional kidnapping operation. When they kidnap and idealistic American engineer, Peter Bowman (David Moorse), who is in South America attempting to build a dam that he believes will help the locals grow crops, the guerrilla group finds out he is employed by a United States oil company, and believe that the dam is assisting an oil pipeline, robbing South America of this precious national resource. They take him to their camp in the mountains and wait for either his wife, Meg Bowman (Meg Ryan), or the oil company to pay the large ransom set. The oil company sends in a kidnap and rescue specialists, Terry Thorne (Russell Crowe), to negotiate a lower price, however the ransom is still much higher than either his wife has or the oil company is willing to pay.
While it takes place in a fictional South American country, Tecala, we can infer that Proof of Life was based almost entirely on Columbia because for a variety of reasons. The geography of Tecala resembles that of Columbia, with both flat coastal lowlands and a mountainous region, the Andes. The other clue that gives away that Tecala was based on Columbia is the effect of guerrillas. The guerrilla group in the movie is based on La Violencia, which also has a Marxist orientation. In Columbia guerilla groups control almost forty percent of the countryside, just as in Proof of Life. This film does a great job showing the imprint that guerilla groups have left on the local populace. Many Columbian citizens live in fear that every day something bad will happen to them or their families due to the great amount of daily violence in the country.
The film snaps back and forth between three story lines, a harrowing escape effort from the mountain camp by Peter Bowman, the intense negotiations to lower the ransom price by Terry Thorne, and Alice Bowman's emotional roller coaster between her budding feelings for Terry Thorne and feelings of loss and despair for her husband. This triplet of story lines can get quite confusing and annoying at times because its prevents us from getting truly engaged in a storyline. Many of the characters actions and emotions are unbelievable, which leads to a distancing of oneself from the characters. Proof of Life overall however, was an entertaining movie, and a movies goal is simply to entertain. While it could have used more action sequences, it succeeded in getting the blood and adrenaline flowing. I would rate it a 6.5 out of 10.
While it takes place in a fictional South American country, Tecala, we can infer that Proof of Life was based almost entirely on Columbia because for a variety of reasons. The geography of Tecala resembles that of Columbia, with both flat coastal lowlands and a mountainous region, the Andes. The other clue that gives away that Tecala was based on Columbia is the effect of guerrillas. The guerrilla group in the movie is based on La Violencia, which also has a Marxist orientation. In Columbia guerilla groups control almost forty percent of the countryside, just as in Proof of Life. This film does a great job showing the imprint that guerilla groups have left on the local populace. Many Columbian citizens live in fear that every day something bad will happen to them or their families due to the great amount of daily violence in the country.
The film snaps back and forth between three story lines, a harrowing escape effort from the mountain camp by Peter Bowman, the intense negotiations to lower the ransom price by Terry Thorne, and Alice Bowman's emotional roller coaster between her budding feelings for Terry Thorne and feelings of loss and despair for her husband. This triplet of story lines can get quite confusing and annoying at times because its prevents us from getting truly engaged in a storyline. Many of the characters actions and emotions are unbelievable, which leads to a distancing of oneself from the characters. Proof of Life overall however, was an entertaining movie, and a movies goal is simply to entertain. While it could have used more action sequences, it succeeded in getting the blood and adrenaline flowing. I would rate it a 6.5 out of 10.