The Giver What exactly would make a perfect world? Have you ever thought about what it is you would expect for a perfect life? Some people would say love, others would say riches and others would say a balance of all things. Imagine a world with no sadness, no loneliness, no illness, no worry or stress, no lies or guilt, no loss, no dreams, no pain, no love, no hate, no suffering and no war, a world without emotions. Would this world be ideal to you? Now imagine if you actually grew up in this exact world that has been described, you never knew about the different races of people, a world where differences were not allowed. You dressed the same, looked the same and acted the same. A world with no music, no art, no religion, no animals. A world where you are told how to dress what to eat and how to feel and even how to speak. A world where you are assigned a family, assigned what you would do or be within the community of which you live when you turn 18, a world that doesn’t know death or what it means, and when these things happen there is no feeling, no emotion it is all just normality. Jonas played by Brenton Thwaites (Home and Away, Maleficent) and his 2 friends Fiona played by Odeya Rush (We are what we are) and Asher played by Cameron Monaghan (Click, Shameless) have only ever known the world I describe above and for them it is nothing but normal. At their 18th birthday the trio are assigned their positions within the community Fiona is to become a nurturer, Asher a drone pilot and finally Jonas who is last assigned but we are soon told that he hasn’t been assigned at all he has actually been chosen. The community in which the trio live amongst everything they do is filmed and recorder so all his life Jonas has been watched and the Elders are more than aware that he sees the world very differently to his friends and others within the community. Jonas often in his life see’s things that others cannot, things that he can’t explain and for this reason he has been chosen to become the receiver of memories a position held very high amongst the community. The Giver played by Jeff Bridges (True Grit, R.I.P.D) is the current receiver of memories and he is also the person who is going to change Jonas’s life as he knows it. Jonas takes his morning injection and makes his way to the edge of the community where the Giver resides ready to begin his new career. I’m not going to say any more about the plot in fear of giving too much away, I will say one thing though this film did have me glued to my seat from its colourless beginning to its more than predictable ending. I was expecting another Divergent or Hunger Games style of movie due to the Dystopian set up and from what I had seen in the trailers but I can gladly say this film definitely stands on its own. It is a beautifully filmed movie so big kudos to the director Phillip Noyce (Salt, The Bone Collector) and his team, I did love the subtlety in the way the film went from black and white to colour in select scenes. The endless amount of close-up shots of body parts or just things that should have no relevance any other time work so well. I also loved the stock footage used in selected memories as well. I loved the way the film made me feel and reflect on the things I have always known to be true and couldn’t help but wonder what the generations after I have gone will be told and how they will live. The Giver also has a pretty big cast not only the people mentioned above it also stars the always fabulous Meryl Streep (The Devil Wears Prada, Mamma Mia) as The Elder Alexander Skarsgård (Battleship, Melancholia) as Father Katie Holmes (Dawson’s Creek, Batman Begins) and even Taylor Swift does the film proud in her very short time on screen as Rosemary. I honestly can’t say a bad thing about the characters or the actors in the film they were all great. The Giver is a film that will hopefully help you to reflect on everything you know or have been told. At the moment we live I a society where everything we are told comes from the media, we are almost told who to fear and why we should fear them, we are told what to expect and how to react. Then again perhaps I just took a lot from this film then I was supposed to. Either way I totally recommend The Giver and think it’s the type of film everyone will enjoy for one reason or another even with its harsh realities. 4 out of 5 BanShee Screams. X
Posted on: Sat, 11 Oct 2014 04:40:47 +0000
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