The Painted Veil (2006)

Synopsis: The tagline for this movie is "Sometimes the greatest journey is the distance between two people" and that's pretty much what this movie is about. Naomi Watts and Edward Norton star as a British couple who lives in China during a cholera outbreak. Norton plays Walter Fane, a doctor of infectious diseases who is stationed in Shanghai. Watts plays Walter's young misguided wife, Kitty. They marry in haste and before you can say "I do" they're in China. Kitty soon realizes that she doesn't really love Walter and that she just married him to get away from her structured life in Britain. She naturally has an affair, cause that's what people do when they're bored in China you see. Walter finds out but instead of divorcing her, haha, oh no this guy likes you to make things interesting, he brings her to a cholera outbreak zone in some rural place. Man, this guy holds one bad ass grudge. But in this small secluded area is where the story really begins as the couple are lost in a sea of confusion, disease, and war and the only thing familiar to them is their turmoiled past.

Should You Watch It? It's a bit slow paced despite the condensed yet effective prologue which sets up the major parts of the movie. But yes you should definitely watch this film if you wanna see two all star actors playing off each other beautifully. The setting is nice as there are gorgeous shots of the Chinese rural area. All this behind the desperate back drop of a cholera outbreak really gives this movie multiple dimensions which will keep the audience entertained through out.

Things to Watch Out For: This movie is hella deep. Not only does it have a very interesting storyline with multiple layers of conflict and questions. it also has major underlying themes discussing the difference and similarities of duty and love. Are they the same thing? The answer to many people would be "no of course not, you're on crack! What kinda 18th century aristocrate are you?". Ah but be quiet my friend and watch this film. You might discover that love and duty might be closer than you think.

Things You Don't Expect: Edward Norton's character is kinda unbelievable. Not in a good way. This character was definitely hard to pull off and although he did a fine job like he always does, his character is a bit too static, but that's only a minor complaint.

Final Score: 7.2