02 Saturday Mar 2013
Director: Peter Webber
Stars: Tommy Lee Jones, Matthew Fox, Kaori Momoi
Plot: As the Japanese surrender at the end of WWII, Gen. Fellers is tasked with deciding if Emperor Hirohito will be hanged as a war criminal. Influencing his ruling is his quest to find Aya, an exchange student he met years earlier in the U.S.
Release Dates: 8th March (USA), TBC (UK)
16 Saturday Feb 2013
Director: Steven Spielberg
Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, David Strathairn
Plot: As the American Civil War rages on, President Abraham Lincoln has his own political battle in trying to pass the Amendment that would abolish slavery.
Daniel Day-Lewis’ career is characterised by his insistence on preparing very thoroughly for each of his roles, making him arguably the best known method actors of his generation. This has resulted in his filmography being sparse compared to most actors but in return, Day-Lewis is almost always tipped for Oscar success. Having now completed a hat-trick of Academy Awards for Best Actor for roles in My Left Foot, There Will Be Blood and now Lincoln, Day-Lewis had little to go on to re-create the voice and mannerisms of Abraham Lincoln – his latest role therefore represents the toughest real-life character he’s had to bring to life yet, such is Lincoln’s fame around the world.
In January 1865, the United States of America has been ripped apart by the savage Civil War. President Abraham Lincoln (Day-Lewis) tries to obtain passage for the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in the House of Representatives, which would abolish slavery in the country. Lincoln, believing that the war will end within a month, is concerned that his 1863 Emancipation Proclamation (proclaiming all those enslaved in Confederate territory to be forever free) will be discarded and that slaves who may already have been freed will be enslaved once more. The Radical Republicans fear that the Amendment will be defeated as a delaying tactic with the support of republicans in the border states not having been secured, as they feel the priority is to end the war. Even if all of the Republicans are on board, there still needs to be the support of several Democratic congressmen for the Thirteenth Amendment to be passed.
With many Democrats becoming lame ducks after losing their bids for re-election in the autumn of 1864, a few of Lincoln’s aides urge the President to wait until the Republican-filled Congress returns, hopefully getting the Amendment through with ease. Lincoln himself is adamant that the Amendment must be in place and the issue of slavery resolved before the end of the war and the southern states welcomed back to the Union. Lincoln has to rely on the support of the Republican Party founder Frances Preston Blair (Hal Holbrook), whose influence can provide the backing of the members of the western and border state conservative Republican faction. Meanwhile, President Lincoln has to deal with problems much closer to home, when his son Robert (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) pleads with his father to let him join the army, something which he forbids, setting himself on a difficult course with both his family and the politicians he needs to back him.
The trailer for Lincoln has all the classic hallmarks of an American political film. Sweeping, majestic cutting, with Lincoln’s quotes and clips of him banging the table and slow-motion war scenes suggest that most of the plot will consist of high drama mixed in with various updates from the Civil War battlefield. In reality, this is very much a slow-burner – much of the storyline is not really aimed at discovering the personal side of Abraham Lincoln and is mainly made up of smoke-filled rooms where intricate and detailed negotiations are taking place, which will determined the future of the United States. Americans will have had a head start on the rest of us who will most likely not have covered the subject extensively at school – even though there is a short history lesson to set the scene, it would be advisable to read up on the background to the American Civil War and the Thirteenth Amendment to see how it all fits together. Having said that, the enormous attention to detail that Steven Spielberg has evidently ensured to recreate 1865 is clear to see in every single scene. The sets, costumes and dialogue feel very authentic indeed, even if you might not have a clue about how everyone should sound or look for the period in history.
Daniel Day-Lewis, portraying one of the most famous American Presidents never to have been filmed or whose speech recorded, chooses to give Lincoln a weak and feeble voice, when many historians believe it to have been a deep, booming one. Whether this was a personal choice or influenced by his esteemed director is not too much of a concern – his appearance however is frighteningly accurate. Day-Lewis turns in another fantastic performance – the authenticity of his portrayal is helped in no small part to the script and Spielberg’s direction, both of which are at an extremely high standard. Tommy Lee Jones is the standout support, playing Thaddeus Stevens with his usual hag dog, toothy grin expression and a comedy wig to boot. Jones is arguably one of the best supporting actors around and he doesn’t disappoint. Sally Field’s Mary Todd Lincoln, who it is rumoured to have suffered from bipolar disorder, has good form for playing such characters, such as Maggie Wyczenski in ER and she provides the family-based angst based around their son’s decision to join the army. In stark contrast to Day-Lewis’ method acting, one of the most prolific actors in Hollywood today, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, proves his range with an albeit fleeting performance as said son Robert Lincoln.
Unless you have an unquenchable thirst for American history, you will probably have to be in the right mood to watch Lincoln. Such is the nature of political dramas, especially historical ones, that to know at least a little of the lead up to the events being portrayed is required to aid the entertainment factor. Daniel Day-Lewis is superb however and, despite the lack of an assassination scene, the film is rounded off rather well and will probably encourage further reading on the subject.
Rating: 
12 Monday Nov 2012
Tags
Director: Ben Affleck
Stars: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, John Goodman
Plot: When six American diplomats become stranded at the Canadian embassy in 1979 revolutionary Iran, a cunning plan is hatched to bring them home.
Ben Affleck has shown the likes of Adam Sandler and Kevin James that there is much more to making films than just taking home the pay cheque. Following the release of Good Will Hunting in 1997, for which he received an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay with Matt Damon, Affleck’s career was mostly composed of insipid rom-coms (Forces of Nature, Gigli, Jersey Girl) and overblown action films (Pearl Harbor, Daredevil, Paycheck), with the odd flash of what he could do in films such as Changing Lanes. In 2006 however, he starred in Hollywoodland in which he impressed as George Reeves – this was followed by Gone Baby Gone for which he wrote the script and then a starring role in The Town. Now comes Argo, a film that finally confirms Affleck’s return to the Hollywood A-List.
On November 4th, 1979, militants storm the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in retaliation for accepting the recently deposed Shah into the country. Over 50 of the embassy staff are taken hostage, except for six diplomats – Robert Anders (Tate Donovan), Cora Amburn-Lijek (Clea DuVall), Mark Lijek (Christopher Denham), Joseph Stafford (Scoot McNairy), Kathleen Stafford (Kerry Bishé) and Lee Schatz (Rory Cochrane) – who all manage to find refuge at the home of the Canadian ambassador Ken Taylor (Victor Garber). With the situation looking bleak, the US State Department looks at ways to rescue them – enter CIA specialist Tony Mendez (Affleck), who suggests they pretend that the ‘Secret Six’ are a Canadian film crew who are in Iran scouting exotic locations for a new science-fiction movie.
Mendez and his boss Jack O’Donnell (Cranston) get in contact with John Chambers (Goodman), a Hollywood make-up artist who has worked with the CIA before. He puts them in touch with film producer Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin) and they work together in finding creating a fake film studio with the publicity to go with it and a script for the film. Mendez happens upon Argo, a Star Wars rip-off which fits the bill perfectly and lends the whole project credibility. Meanwhile in Tehran, the escapees are becoming increasingly anxious about their identities being revealed, especially as the documents that had been shredded at the embassy are being put back together by the militants. Mendez flies out to Iran posing as a producer and puts his plan, which is fraught with danger, into action.
Argo has been wrongly described by some as a dramedy. While it does have the odd moment of comic relief, mostly provided by John Goodman’s character, there is only the odd flash of humour in a film which depicts a very serious chain of events. After the old Warner Bros. logo appears (a nice touch indeed) and a brief history lesson as to what happened in the run-up to the Iranian revolution in 1979 is given, we are well and truly plunged into a fascinating era in history. What strikes you most about the film is the attention to detail – every prop, costume, sideburn and pair of glasses has been researched to death in an attempt to recreate the tense world we are immersed in for two hours. The thoroughness doesn’t stop there, however. Chris Terrio’s script is tighter than a 1970s tweed jacket – there are no particularly dramatic chase scenes, explosions or long, drawn out loud arguments. The tension is superbly built towards to an extraordinarily unbearable finale which, although it has received a classic Hollywood makeover (the actual resolution was much more sedate), this is far from the film’s detriment and actually enhances it.
With a fabulous cast featuring Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin and John Goodman, you know you’re in for a treat. Even the minor roles are given to such revered stalwarts as Philip Baker Hall (in an uncredited role) and a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance by Bob Gunton. Affleck once again proves he can put in a fantastic performance when given the right material. He utterly convinces as Tony Mendez, even though he looks nothing like the real-life CIA officer, although this is only a minor detail. Affleck’s performance is filled with a great deal of sincerity and maintains the required subtlety all the way through. His direction matches this deftness of touch, with there being little of the shaky camera angles that could have so easily ruined the denouement – Affleck has a modern style of directing which seems to blend effortlessly with the time period which is being conveyed. Cranston is terrific in his supporting role, as is Alan Arkin whose film producer is totally believable with the temptation to ham it up with braces and a cigar thankfully avoided. The illustrious cast is further complemented by those playing the six diplomats whose characters aren’t at the forefront, but are depicted admirably.
Argo is a riveting journey into a dangerous world, but with Ben Affleck as our guide, it’s a joy to behold. The hope now is that Affleck can continue the momentum he has built up and deliver yet another film with as much entertainment and also gravitas as on display here. Ergo: Argo is really good.
Rating: 
15 Saturday Sep 2012
Director: Steven Spielberg
Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tommy Lee Jones
Plot: As the Civil War nears its end, President Abraham Lincoln clashes with members of his cabinet over the issue of abolishing slavery.
Release Dates: 9th November (USA), 25th January 2013 (UK)
09 Sunday Sep 2012
Director: Roger Donaldson
Stars: Kevin Costner, Gene Hackman, Sean Young
Plot: A US naval officer fears he is about to be framed for the murder of a woman who was the mistress of the Secretary of Defense.
The year 1987 was quite a watershed in film. Hollywood flooded the cinematic market with films such as Fatal Attraction, Lethal Weapon, Beverly Hills Cop II, Good Morning Vietnam, Dirty Dancing and the highest-grossing film of the year, Three Men and a Baby. It was also the point at which Kevin Costner became a star in The Untouchables and then No Way Out, a political thriller with intrigue, drama and a terrific cast.
U.S. Naval Lieutenant Commander Tom Farrell (Costner) attends a ball where he meets glamorous Susan Atwell and the pair start an affair, even though Susan is involved with someone else. While away with the Navy, Farrell is hailed as a hero when he saves a fellow colleague from certain death in the midst of a storm. On his return to Washington, he is employed by Secretary of Defense David Brice (Hackman) on the recommendation of his General Counsel Scott Pritchard (Will Patton), who is ann old friend of Farrell’s. Brice’s intention by using Farrell’s services is to use him as a liaison with the CIA to find out if the Russians are working on an expensive Navy project similar to theirs. Farrell goes away for the weekend with Susan and also discovers that the other man in her life is Brice, who in turn learns that Susan has been away with another man, demanding to know who he is.
During a heated argument, Brice accidentally pushes Susan over a balcony at his house and she dies in the fall. He goes to see Pritchard with the intention of turning himself into the police, but is persuaded otherwise by his advisor. Pritchard proposes an alternative explanation – that Susan’s ‘other lover’ was in fact “Yuri”, a suspected Russian KGB sleeper agent who has never been identified, but is thought to be working somewhere within the American government. Confident that Yuri doesn’t exist, CIA Director Marshall (Fred Dalton Thompson) doesn’t think the other man is Pritchard as he is homosexual. Brice appoints Farrell as the lead in the investigation of the ‘murder’, as the only forensic evidence is revealed to be a Polaroid picture which he believes shows himself. As the next closes, Farrell realises that he is going to be implicated and must find a way to prove his innocence.
No Way Out bills itself as a twisty, bendy, labyrinthine of a film with a shocking ending that supposedly requires you to go back to the beginning and see just how everything fits together. This is not exactly the case though. We start off with a situation not too dissimilar to the Gene Hackman-starring Absolute Power, in which jewel thief Clint Eastwood witnesses Hackman’s President killing a woman in his bedroom. The same rule applies here, as Costner knows who did the deed yet must find a way to prove the truth in the face of a politically powerful adversary. There is a twist at the end, but the build-up to it is not directed properly by the screenplay – instead the onus is on Costner’s Farrell when he realises he is trapped in the Pentagon with nowhere to go, hence the title. This particular part of the film is great, but the actual finale itself where everything is revealed feels like an afterthought to the thrilling drama being played out just beforehand. The soundtrack is extremely 80s, with a synthesiser playing almost all the time. You’ll have no doubt when a dramatic moment is coming up, due to the obligatory change into a minor key which spoils much of the tension – in certain scenes it seems the mood is more towards a hammy horror rather than an exciting drama.
Kevin Costner clearly intends to play Tom Farrell in the same vein as Warren Beatty’s Joe Frady in The Parallax View or Jeff Bridges’ Michael Faraday in Arlington Road, as a man caught up in a web of deceit, but he doesn’t quite hit the mark. This being early on in his career as a leading man, Costner had impressed in The Untouchables, but his star hadn’t quite risen. Having said that, he does a decent job as Farrell and has enough chemistry with Sean Young even though their scenes together are rather fleeting. Gene Hackman, always dependable as a figure of authority, is excellent as the conniving Brice and shows the kind of quality acting he would go on to show in Unforgiven, Crimson Tide and the aforementioned Absolute Power. Will Patton, who features as Hackman’s slimy advisor, is dastardly enough, but there is still too much of Niles Crane in his performance for him to be taken for anything more than a pantomime villain. Fans of Brad Pitt should be on the lookout during the ball scenes, as the unmistakable grinning face of William Bradley can be seen teetering on Kevin Costner’s shoulder in his first ever on-screen appearance.
No Way Out is certainly thrilling at times, but isn’t as clever as it thinks it is. This is a film better used for spotting various actors and actresses early on in their careers and the decidedly outdated forensic technology can be laughed at, but it is still an entertaining couple of hours.
Rating: 
26 Thursday Apr 2012
Director: Roland Emmerich
Stars: Rhys Ifans, Vanessa Redgrave, David Thewlis
Plot: Contrary to popular belief, it was Edward De Vere, Earl of Oxford, not William Shakespeare who wrote Hamlet, Macbeth et al. Here we learn his story and the reasons behind the conspiracy, set against the backdrop of Elizabeth I’s reign.
“Plays are the work of the devil!” yells one stereotypical medieval God-fearer in Anonymous, a film that suggests that not only William Shakespeare was in fact an illiterate fool who didn’t write a single word of ‘his’ plays, but also that our dear Virgin Queen Elizabeth I was in fact a bit of a floozy who played the field and bore a son (or two). If you can swallow all this, then read on.
After an exceedingly luvvie introduction from Sir Derek Jacobi in the present day, we see Ben Jonson (Sebastian Arnesto) in the early 17th century, who is running along a rain-soaked London street while being pursued by Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury (Edward Hogg). Cecil is searching for a pile of valuable manuscripts which Jonson hides in the Globe Theatre, which is then burned down by Cecil’s men. The action then jumps back five then forty years as we follow the life of Edward de Vere (Jamie Campbell Bower, Ifans) which runs parallel to much of Elizabeth I’s (Joely Richardson, Vanessa Redgrave) reign. The succession of Elizabeth is discussed in detail between the Tudors and the Cecils, father William (Thewlis) and son Robert. Edward de Vere is seen as a child prodigy, performing the role of Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the Queen at the age of about eight or nine. He is later sent to live in a Puritanical household of William Cecil, where he kills a servant who is spying on him.
Cecil blackmails de Vere over the murder into a loveless marriage with his daughter Anne (Amy Kwolek, Helen Baxendale) and also to stop writing. De Vere later becomes the lover of Elizabeth I and unknowingly fathers an illegitimate son, later known as Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton (Timo Huber, Xavier Samuel), whose parentage is hidden from everyone except the Cecils. Not only is de Vere hamstrung by the restrictions to write plays and his wife’s impatience, his father-in-law is concerned about the royal lineage and plans to have James, the son of Mary Queen of Scots, crowned as king but is concerned about Henry’s possible claim to the throne. De Vere visits a theatre to see a play by Ben Jonson, but it is stopped halfway through as it is considered by the royal militia to be seditious and Jonson is arrested and imprisoned. De Vere then secretly writes Henry V and Richard III as propaganda against Cecil’s cause, but when Jonson turns down the opportunity to take the writing credit, it falls to an actor – William Shakespeare – to do so.
Anonymous is an almost impenetrable mess of a film, which introduces characters at an incredible rate of knots whilst confusingly jumping back and forth between time periods. Just when you were beginning to follow one timeline, in comes the same character a few years older/younger and we have to start all over again. With such a huge number of faces (most of whom have incredibly long titles) to keep track of, this is ironically similar to watching one of the plays of Shakespeare himself. Rhys Ifans’ posh Edward de Vere is a far cry from his scruffy Spike in Notting Hill (1999), the role that launched his career on a global scale, but, as the main focus of the film, is actually convincing if a little too camp at times. The supporting cast is pretty anonymous (no pun intended), except for Sebastian Arnesto’s Ben Jonson and that is only because he has one of the film’s more meatier roles.
Casting mother and daughter Joely Richardson and Vanessa Redgrave as Elizabeth I is inspired. Not only do you have two accomplished actresses, but also the ready-made look complete with red hair. These are the only plus points as far as the acting is concerned – most of the time there is too much grandiose thespianism instead of playing characters with a little more restraint. The plot might be absurd and difficult to follow, but the superb recreation of Elizabethan England is in complete contrast to the pretty dire events surrounding it. Roland Emmerich, who directed and produced the futuristic and slightly less-than-subtle films The Day After Tomorrow (2004) and 2012 (2009), here takes on a historical world and though it might be a little too Hollywood, fans of The Tudors will no doubt lap it up.
Anonymous is a tame effort at suggesting that Elizabeth I and William Shakespeare led fraudulent lives. There maybe some demand for Da Vinci Code-style conspiracies, but one look at the poor box office takings will tell you all you need to know.
Rating: 
15 Sunday Jan 2012
Tags
2006, 300, David Wenham, Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, Zack Snyder
Director: Zack Snyder
Stars: Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, David Wenham
Plot: King Leonidas and his army of 300 must do bloody battle with the Persians in 480 B.C.
If your idea of a good war film is a crackingly clever script, long pauses for reflection to reminisce about ‘the missus back home’ and profound character arcs that lead us to unbridled empathy and emotion at the end, look away now. 300 is no Gladiator and doesn’t pretend to be (well, except for one or two scenes) – Gerard Butler hasn’t got the vengeance factor of Russell Crowe’s Maximus Decimus Meridias, driven by the memory of his dead wife and son. But what he lacks on this score, he more than makes up in pure brute force and muscle which would put any male couch potato to shame.
300 begins by charting the life of Leonidas (Butler), his unforgiving journey from childhood to the throne. We learn how he was cast into the wilderness to learn to be a soldier, staring a giant wolf in the face before outwitting it in a fight to the death. We rejoin his story as a messenger arrives at his kingdom of Sparta, demanding that King Leonidas submits to Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) – instead he and his guards throw the messenger and his party into a well, knowing full well that this action will spark a war. Leonidas seeks counsel from ancient priests who in turn consult the Oracle, who tells them a war must not be fought during the religious festival of Carnea. The king decides to go ahead as planned, with the intention of channelling the opposing Persian army into a narrow passage where they will be bombarded from all sides and ultimately defeated.
King Leonidas sets out towards Thermopylae with 300 men who he calls his personal bodyguards instead of an army, to avoid the veto of the Spartan council under the suspicious, watchful eye of Theron (Dominic West). A fierce storm batters the Persian ships on the night before the battle is due to begin and kills many soldiers but these are only a small number of the vast army approaching. The Persians demand that Leonidas and his men lay down their weapons, but they refuse and manage to repel Xerxes’ armies’ repeated advances and increasingly intense bombardments. As both human casualties and treachery threaten to derail King Leonidas’ strategy, he must continue to fight Xerxes, not only in combat, but also diplomacy, as he has to come face to face with his proverbial wolf once again – Xerxes himself.
The first thing that strikes you (no pun intended) about 300, is its very unique cinematographic style. Zack Snyder shoots the film using similar colours to Frank Miller’s original comic strip of the same name. This creates a very atmospheric tone – at times beautiful scenery but always with black storm clouds seemingly lurking in the background. While Snyder puts you right in among the action, you may also feel detached from it, such is the nature of the film in that it doesn’t feel realistic enough but this is a very unusual characteristic that may take time to get used to. The fight scenes are unflinching in their brutality, with maimings, beheadings and skewerings that are the standard in sword-and-sandals epics, but are taken to a new level here.
Gerard Butler fills the screen quite literally – during his scenes the camera barely leaves him for a second. Despite there being a strong Greek mythological influence with its Oracles and mysticism, King Leonidas and his army are ultimately mortals and it is therefore easier to empathise with Butler’s character than if he were an invincible, infallible god. Where the film loses its way, is during the non-battle scenes, where we are transported back to Sparta for bouts of hammy dialogue from decidedly one-dimensional characters drawn from Gladiator. Lena Headley’s Queen Gorgo is just about tolerable, which is far more than can be said for Dominic West as token baddie Theron – taking his character out of the equation altogether and concentrating on Gorgo’s efforts to win over the council would have improved 300 considerably.
For its sheer scale and grand design, 300 is an entertaining war film that will most likely prompt a visit to a well-known online encyclopedia to find out a little more about ancient Mediterranean history and myth. Where it fails, is on the more subtle moments of convincing character backstory development and motive, which made Gladiator a far more rewarding experience.
Rating: 
25 Sunday Sep 2011
Director: Justin Chadwick
Stars: Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, Eric Bana
Plot: Henry VIII’s quest to find a wife capable of giving him a male heir draws his attentions to two sisters, Mary and Anne Boleyn.
About five years ago, the popular perception of Henry VIII used to be as a grotesque, fat, ginger-haired king, working his way through six wives as easily as he would a banquet. Charles Laughton’s brilliant performance in The Private Life of Henry VIII merely fuelled this view, although many screen portrayals of arguably England’s most famous monarch followed, more recently Ray Winstone’s ‘Henry does Eastenders’ impression in the imaginatively titled TV movie Henry VIII.
A year after the advent of The Tudors, in which Jonathan Rhys-Meyers is the most unlikely Henry you’ve ever seen, The Other Boleyn Girl once again sexes-up the time period with a trio of über generic characters with perfect teeth and hygiene. Based on Philippa Gregory’s historical fiction novel of the same name, the plot twists the facts to focus on Anne Boleyn (Portman), her sister Mary (Johansson) and of course a dark, brooding Henry (Bana).
The story picks up towards the end of Catherine of Aragon’s tenure as queen, as she fails to produce the male heir that Henry so desperately needs. Anne Boleyn’s father and uncle arrange for her to be installed at court as a potential replacement for Catherine along with her sister Mary, but it is the younger sibling to whom Henry becomes initially infatuated. After much back-stabbing and conniving behaviour between the two sisters, Anne eventually takes her place in history as Henry’s second wife – but the back story which is largely fictional, forms the majority of the plot.
Purists would say this distorted view of Anne Boleyn’s rise and fall is not a fair representation of her life, nor of the period. But this is pure entertainment which isn’t supposed to be taken as a gospel, although only Portman really has a grasp of her real-life character, acquiring a near-flawless English accent. Bana and Johansson go through the motions as needed but the fabricated sister-centric storyline doesn’t grab you as much as it should.
Rating: 
13 Tuesday Sep 2011
Tags
2008, Asa Butterfield, Boy, David Thewlis, Holocaust, Mark Herman, Pyjamas, Striped
Director: Mark Herman
Stars: Asa Butterfield, David Thewlis, David Friend
Plot: Set against the backdrop of Word War II, Bruno, the son of a concentration camp commandant, strikes up a friendship with a Jewish boy sitting on the other side of the garden fence.
If Schindler’s List is viewed as the definitive adult perspective of The Holocaust, then The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is its innocent equivalent. The vast majority of films devoted to showing the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps have, aside from Life is Beautiful, shown how grown-ups dealt with the realisation that their lives were going to be cut cruelly short by such an evil regime.
The story concentrates on the life of Bruno (Butterfield), the son of a high-ranking German officer (Thewlis) who is promoted to a new job. As a result, the family has to move away to southern Poland. Unbeknownst to Bruno, this new post that his father has acquired is actually as commandant of the notorious Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.
One day, left to his own devices, Bruno goes for a wander behind the house (even though his mother forbid him) and encounters a group of people milling about beyond a tall fence – most notably Schmuel (Jack Scanlon), a boy who appears to wearing pyjamas. His new friend is actually an inmate at the camp who, along with his family, have been put to work wearing the camp uniform (the ‘pyjamas’ of the film’s title). Bruno visits Schmuel a number of times, bringing him food and water while they become friends yet blissfully unaware of what is really going on.
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is a curious film, because it isn’t really aimed at any age in particular. There are strong elements of family drama, yet the second half well and truly builds towards a climax that could only be comprehended by an adult audience. Having said that, it is refreshing to watch a different, knee-high perspective on a well-worn subject matter – particularly the horrifying finale that will haunt you for days afterwards.
Rating: 
11 Sunday Sep 2011
Tags
2011, Cary Fukunaga, Charlotte Brontë, Jamie Bell, Jane Eyre, Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender
Director: Cary Fukunaga
Stars: Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender, Jamie Bell
Plot: After a strict upbringing, Jane Eyre becomes a governess at Thornfield Hall. She falls for the brooding master of the house, Edward Rochester, but his terrible secret is about to tear them apart.
Charlotte Brontë’s most famous novel, Jane Eyre, had previously been adapted for the big screen an amazing eighteen times – not to mention the many television versions that have been produced down the years. Unsurprisingly, this influential account of a poverty-stricken, headstrong woman battling with her beliefs and coming to terms with her feelings has been singled out as a watershed moment in the formation of the feminist movement.
Ten-year-old orphan Jane (Wasikowska) has a difficult childhood – initially living with her late uncle’s family who mistreat her – she moves onto Lowood School, where the cruel Mr. Brocklehurst (Simon McBurney), encourages Jane’s classmates to shun her. She eventually leaves to take a position as governess at Thornfield Hall, run by its keeper Alice Fairfax (Dame Judi Dench). Jane encounters the moody Edward Rochester who isn’t sure what to make of her but warms to Jane’s intelligence and gumption.
Mia Wasikowska is around the right age (nineteen) to play Jane, and is also appropriately plain. Instead of casting the usually glamorous actresses in the role of classic literary heroines, here we have a much more realistic main character who convinces. But you get the feeling that Michael Fassbender’s Rochester is trying his best to ‘out-Darcy’ Colin Firth, but he doesn’t have the same screen presence, nor the required roguish charm.
The storyline has been edited for the screen, especially the ending which misses out the fact that Rochester recovers to a certain degree, along with his and Jane’s general relationship thereafter. However, if you’re not familiar with the plot of the novel, this won’t really matter.
Jane Eyre feels too much like a television adaptation than a feature film and fails to bring anything original or different, which you would think was essential after so many previous incarnations. It’s a decent effort, but won’t set the world alight.
Rating:
