When worlds are torn apart, it is doctors who are the unsung heroes. From two-time academy award winning (“Mystic River”, “Milk”) actor Sean Penn comes his fifth directorial feature in a film that breaks barriers in telling the stories of those who give everything to help those in need.
“The Last Face” tells the story of Wren Petersen (Charlize Theron) a physician and activist who is continuing the work of her deceased father in the organization Doctors of the World. In 2003, he meets Doctor Miguel Leon (Javier Bardem), a doctor that has devoted himself to treating people from war-torn areas.
Together they help the people of West Africa in healing the sick, injured and terminal. But with war, love falls short, but for Wren and Miguel it is what makes them feel at ease despite the conflict. It is not a didactic documentary, or war story. At the center of this mayhem is the extraordinary love of two individuals that have made their lives a career in humanizing the human condition, and how they keep their love alive in the atrocities that their work takes them to.
Producer Bill Pohlad considers that Charlize Theron is one of the greatest actresses working today. “She has a breadth of appeal and there’s a feeling about her that makes it easy to believe that she would be in this world and informed.”
Javier Bardem has proved here and in other roles his power as an actor. “It’s exciting to have them together”, says Pohlad, “certainly beyond Charlize and Javier, we wanted the film to be filled with believable people. Individuals from all cultures and professions are thrown together in this environment. We don’t see this as an American movie or strictly for that audience, we view it as having international scope and relevance.
The culturally diverse cast includes English actor, Jared Harris, and French actors, Jean Reno and Adèle Exarchopoulos. Liberian national, Zubin Cooper who joined the project as an advisor – makes his acting debut in the role of ‘Dr. Mousa’”
“The Last Face” screens on all Ayala Malls Cinemas (Greenbelt 1 and Trinoma) starting September 13