THE 2008 version of Patrick McGoohan 1967 sci-fi thriller, ‘The Prisoner’, will open in the United Kingdom on November 15, according to movieweb.com.
What makes this significant for Namibia is that most of the six-part television miniseries, starring Jim Caviezel and Ian McKellen, was produced and shot at Swakopmund last year, featuring the coastal town as the movie’s ‘The Village’.Award-winning producer Trevor Hopkins said Swakopmund was a ‘perfect’ location for ‘The Village’.According to him, it was the architecture, people and natural environment, as well as the ‘relaxed somewhat mysterious atmosphere’, that made the town the ideal location.In the film, a man (Caviezel) finds himself in ‘The Village’ with no memory of how he got there. He discovers that the inhabitants of ‘The Village’ are identified by number, instead of by name, and suffer a sort of amnesia of an earlier life. Not knowing who to trust, Caviezel (‘Number Six’) desperately looks for answers and ways to escape to his previous life. ‘The Village’ is controlled by the sinister and charismatic ‘Number Two’ (McKellen). In each of the episodes, Six and Two are locked in a battle of wits, as Six challenges the oppressive nature of ‘The Village’ and battles against his captors.The remake (by Bill Gallagher) is more based on contemporary themes to reflect contemporary social concerns, such as liberty, security and surveillance, while at the same time showcasing the same key elements of paranoia, action and socio-political commentary seen in the original series.There were about 100 sets in and around Swakop-mund, with the main set at the Esplanade Amphitheatre next to the Swakopmund State House and Magistrates’ Court.In an interview with movieweb.com, Caviezel, when asked what he thought of Namibia said: ‘The space, the desert and the dunes are awesome. The town of Swakopmund is a strange and interesting place – an authentic German town in the desert in Africa.’In the same interview, Mckellen said Swakopmund made ‘The Prisoner’ remake ‘more believable’ than the original film.’Port Merion [in McGoohan’s original] doesn’t look real. It’s a fantasy. Bill Gallagher’s ‘The Prisoner’ is a more believable place. It clearly has a style to it. Swakopmund has the feel of a prison – the mighty Atlantic on one side of the town and on the other side you have the desert,’ he told movieweb.com.During his stay in Swakopmund, Hopkins told The Namibian that Swakopmund, as ‘The Village’, will attract many fans of the cult movie to the town after they have seen the series and found out where ‘The Village’ is.Unfortunately, Namibians will not have the opportunity to view the series as the network on which it will be broadcast is not available in Africa. Some local movie stores have however indicated that the series may come out on DVD ‘sooner or later’.
