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A FAR OFF PLACE
Splendid sweeping John Barry-style score for African drama
 A review by JAMES SOUTHALL

Music composed by
JAMES HORNER

Rating
* * * *



Performed by
UNNAMED ORCHESTRA
conducted by
JAMES HORNER

Orchestration
FRANK BENNETT
BRAD DECHTER
THOMAS PASATIERI
JOEL ROSENBAUM

Engineer
SHAWN MURPHY
Music Editor
JIM HENRIKSON
Produced by
JAMES HORNER
DOUGLASS FAKE

Album running time
40:11

Released by
INTRADA
Catalog number
MAF 7042D

Album cover copyright (c) 1993 Walt Disney Pictures; review copyright (c) 2008 James Southall

Long before she became, somewhat improbably, the highest-paid actress in the world, Reese Witherspoon's first major role came in A Far Off Place, about some kids who have to walk 2,000km to escape from the poachers who killed their parents in Namibia.  It was directed by former cinematographer Mikael Salomon, and I imagine the bigwigs at Buena Vista had a conversation which went something along the lines of "Hey, we've got this film where there'll be loads of landscape, we need a former cinematographer to direct it."  Salomon's film career hasn't exactly hit the dizzy heights since then - after this, a five year gap to Hard Rain, and after that, a very short gap before episodic television came calling - but the film isn't that bad for what it is.

A United Nations Security Council resolution was passed in the early 1990s which established a no-fly zone in northern Iraq, and stipulated that at least half of all films made worldwide must receive a James Horner score - A Far Off Place was one of a somewhat eyewatering ten scores he's credited with in 1993.  None are classics, but there are several strong efforts (including Searching for Bobby Fischer and The Man Without a Face) and this is the strongest of the lot.

In many ways, this score bridges the gap between John Barry's seminal Dances with Wolves and Horner's own Legends of the Fall (for which Dances is usually seen as the obvious temp-track).  The sweeping theme and grandiose approach certainly brings Barry's music to mind; though the score starts in slightly more typical Horner territory, with a flute solo being overwhelmed by dark action music, before the wonderful theme rises from the darkness and takes centre-stage.  Rousing and beautiful, it's one that sticks long in the memory.

It's not all like that though.  "The Slaughter" is about as cheerful as you might expect a piece of music called "The Slaughter" to be - but Horner still paints with broad dramatic strokes, and it's effective stuff.  Indeed, the whole album is full of terrific music - but perhaps the standout is "The Swamp", a gut-wrenching piece of dramatic action music that represents Horner at his best.  By the time the main theme soars back during the epilogue, you'll be wondering why this is amongst Horner's least well-known scores.  It comes in the middle-period in between the vibrant and more aggressive scores which dominated the early part of his career, and the long-lined seriousness of the later part, and is a wonderful mixture of the two styles.  Highly recommended.

  1. Main Title (5:19)
  2. The Slaughter (4:37)
  3. The Elephants (5:08)
  4. Attacked from the Air (3:44)
  5. Gemsbock Gift (2:15)
  6. The Swamp (3:48)
  7. Sandstorm! (6:59)
  8. Death in the Mine (2:50)
  9. Epilogue (5:31)
    10.