Hugo Weaving, Web Weaving: Bangkok Hilton Review
 
Hugo Weaving, Bangkok Hilton,

 

n.  Hugo Weaving ~ Bangkok Hilton 

AU Mini Series 1989:     Appx 40mins p/epsiode
Hugo Weaving content p/episode: 
1)-  2)13%   3)39%  4)18%   5)24%   6)50%
Character: Richard~ smooth but sincere Brit lawyer; guardian angel
Cast:Nicole Kidman    Katrina Stanton, Denholm Elliott   Hal Stanton,  Hugo Weaving   Richard Carlisle,  Joy Smithers    Mandy Engels,  Norman Kaye   George McNair,  Jerome Ehlers   Arkie Ragan,  Noah Taylor  Billy Engels
Dir: Ken Cameron
Availablity: DVD and VHS available in UK. 

 
 

Hugo Weaving: Bangkok Hilton Plot/Comments:

Bangkok Hilton was one of the more memorable offerings of the Decade of the Miniseries: hugely topical at the time (along with Dadah is Death ), it still holds up well, despite some really dodgy 80s staples (soap opera character montage title sequence, really cheesy synth music). 

    The series starts off badly, taking a rambling approach with the backstory of Australian Katrina Stanton searching for her missing British father, Hal;  travelling to London to be rejected by his family, but finding a possible lead to him in Thailand. 
    This is slow, plodding and soapy: a more dynamic approach would have been to start off with the drugs bust and then flash back to this stuff. 
     She also picks up a mullet-haired new boyfriend who volunteers to accompany her, giving her a pricey new Nikon camera as a surprise present. Unknown to her, she will be his heroin mule.

 
Arriving in Thailand, she arranges to meet with the British ex-pat lawyer who pays her estranged father an allowance each month. Unfortunately for her he turns out to be Richard Carlisle (Hugo Weaving); young, controlled and too professional to break the trust placed in him by his client, however emotive her story or bouffy her hair. 
     Hal Stanton (Elliott) is not just a client but also a close family friend, and Richard resignedly drags him out of his colonial boozing joint and tries to shake some sense of duty into him regarding his daughter. The relationship between the two men is acutely observed with good writing and acting, making their friendship and surrogate father/son relationship (the 'son' often acting as the parent) touching and believable.
Hugo Weaving, Bangkok Hilton, Denholm Elliot

 
When Katrina is arrested for heroin smuggling, she contacts Richard, the only lawyer in Thailand she knows. He refuses, explaining that he doesn't have courtroom flair and that a white lawyer representing her will just turn the judges against her for her colonialism. However, she is desperate and he agrees, giving Hal the chance to sober up and help her ~ albeit incognito ~ as his assistant lawyer. 
    As the courtroom drama unfolds, Hal builds a relationship with his daughter as she faces increasingly desperate conditions with plucky determination.

 
Bangkok Hilton Gallery
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Next: Wendy Cracked a Walnut
Web Weaving

 
When their appeal over the death sentence is rejected, an escape plan is put into action. Well edited and with plenty of  tension, it would be easy to criticise this part of the story as TV sensationalism if it wasn't based on a true story.
   Needless to say, she escapes, realising that her father has helped her all along...
Hugo Weaving, Bangkok Hilton, Nicole Kidman
Hugo Weaving, Bangkok Hilton, Denholm Elliot, night

 
  Bangkok Hilton holds up well but could really have benefited from more ruthless editing: if you compare it to the multi-story, highly political, beautifully shot and sharply scripted grit of the original Traffik British miniseries (later remade by Soderberg), it looks like Tenko.
  Now chiefly known as a Nicole Kidman vehicle, it works because of assured casting and performances from all: from minor parts, such as Noah Taylor's retarded inmate; to Hugo Weaving's dryly sardonic, smooth but duty-bound gent; and especially, to Denholm Elliott's superb self-hating, guilt-ridden, booze-swilling, failed war commander turned energetic second-chance lawyer/father.

 
Although Kidman is feisty and solid, she is also rather detached, as Katrina. 
  The series really belongs to Elliott, a criminally under-rated actor, spewing wonderful monologues with great conviction, especially  his last ones where he convinces Richard to break the letter of the law in order to protect the spirit of it, accusing his "prodding conscience" and blinded "law uber alle" mindset.
     Elliott's performance is particularly poignant when you consider that he was already suffering with the symptoms of AIDS. 

 
Typical Hugo Weaving Quotes:
  • Hal: "They've stopped the money have they?"                      Richard: "No, the breweries are safe"
  • "Twenty years ago you were the funny man who drank a lot and sung songs from South Pacific"
  • "It's the law. It's how I've been raised. It's all that stands between us and chaos"
Trainspotter Comments and Queries:
  • AFI Award: Best TV Actress - Nicole Kidman
  • Though possibly unfounded, an early casting report on Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge had Weaving for the part of The Duke (played by Richard Roxburgh), also opposite Nicole Kidman.
  • Nicole Kidman was rumoured to be the buyer of the 'Full Monty' photo of Hugo, Bryan Brown & others (for the Aussies Without Cossies charity strip)
  • Weaving has now  completed three TV projects about the Thai death penalty for heroin trafficking. See Dadah is Death for Weaving on the other side of the prison bars. . The Bite had him as the ex-pat tough Aussie husband of a woman arrested for heroin smuggling.
  • Noah Taylor has worked with Weaving on Dadah is Death and True Love & Chaos . Norman Kaye was also in Exileand Bordertown. See The Usual Suspectsfor a huge list of recurring Weaving co-workers.


 

 
Hugo Weaving content: 
On the surface, Richard Carlisle could have been terribly Pierce Brosnan: all pristine shirts and white linen, sardonically raised eyebrows, and unflappabe control; even barely sweating against the Thai humidity.
   However, while not the flashiest part, Weaving brings a refined but complex mix of dry cynicism, relaxed charm, respect, resigned fatalism and enthusiastic determination. 
Hugo Weaving, Bangkok Hilton, Smoke

 
Particularly noticeable is his English emotional reserve, diffusing potentially embarrassing moments or heartfelt compliments with evasive humour.
  Weaving makes this trait one of his key features, giving his scenes with Elliott more quietly emotional depth than any other relationship in the series. Whether it is dragging his erstwhile  'strange uncle'  into sober reality, just as he did in childhood;  batting away a compliment; confronting his own narrow-mindedness; or saying a final and typically awkward British fairwell to Hal, both actors bring real warmth and humanity to their roles and react to each other beatuifully. 
Hugo Weaving, Bangkok Hilton, phone