Victory

Victory is the film adaptation of the Joseph Conrad novel by the same name. Directed by Mark Peploe, it stars Willem Defoe, Sam Neill, Irene Jacob, and Rufus Sewell.

Unfortunately, some sort of legal wrangling has prevented this being released in the US to date - a big mistake in my opinion, because it’s really quite good - particularly Rufus. It recently became available on video in the UK, which is some consolation.

The story begins with Alex Heist’s (Defoe’s character) attempt to retreat from human contact after the failure of his Coal Mining venture and revolves around his attempt to rescue Alma (Irene Jacob) from a life of prostitution.
The setting is the Dutch East Indes (present day Indonesia) in 1913 and the scenery in breath-takingly beautiful and primitive. Sam Neill’s character is an opium smoking, woman-hating, demented con-man who delights in his nastiness.
Rufus plays his man-servant/secretary and his performance is marvelous! He’s obviously having a great time playing the “hunchback”, “fuckhead” type of character he relishes. His cockney accent is delightful and he demonstrates once again his uncanny ablility to make even a sleazy, knife-carrying card-shark appear vulnerable and sympathetic.

See it- if you can find it - it’s one of his best performances. Bravo, Rufus!!!