Paradise Road — Indonesia
Women civilian internees in a Japanese POW camp in Sumatra form a vocal orchestra, composing and performing works entirely with the human voice — music as survival and defiance.
The Belalau women's camp in Sumatra held civilian women interned after the fall of Singapore in 1942. Margaret Dryburgh and Norah Chambers established the 'Vocal Orchestra' in 1943, arranging classical works for voices. Of 200 women initially in the camp, 83 survived. Dryburgh died in camp in 1945. The 1997 film is based on the real testimonies of survivors.