Coastal View News
It’s a shame when a movie fails to live up to its source
material. Take “The Giver”, for example. It is based on the Newbery Medal
winning novel of the same name—a novel that has been remembered and adored for
decades now, and one that, if I remember correctly, is indeed pretty great. The
movie adaptation, on the other hand, is not going to win any awards. And it
will probably be forgotten. And, to be honest, it isn’t great.
But I don’t think it is bad, either. Start with the story,
which may be familiar. After some particularly awful period in human history, a
community is built where any difference between anyone is pretty much shunned
and, if possible, eliminated. Everyone rides the same bikes, wears the same
clothes, eats the same food, lives in the same style of house, and so on. Oh,
also, everyone’s memories of the past—of the history of everything before the
community was started—are completely erased. As far as they all know, their
little hill with its little houses and little fake trees just sprung up out of
nowhere.
Despite these oddities, this community is pretty appealing.
Everyone gets along all right. There is no bloodshed or strife. Everyone is
taken care of. No one wants for anything, it seems. It looks like a Utopia—a place
where ignorance is truly bliss.
There is one exception: the Receiver (Jeff Bridges). He is
the only one who knows the full story of how this community got there—where it
came from, why it was formed, what events led to its creation, and how it is
alike or different from any other community in history. You see, the elders of
the community decided it would be a good idea to have one person who remembers
the past. That way he or she can give advice and whatnot. Hence, the Receiver.
By the outset of “The Giver”, the Receiver is growing old,
and thus, a replacement is needed. A teenage boy named ‘Jonas’ (Brenton
Thwaites) is selected, and so the old Receiver becomes “The Giver”—the
passer-down of memories and experiences. At first Jonas is all about being the
new Receiver. He experiences color for the first time, feels snowflakes on his
skin for the first time and goes sledding for the first time; he hears music,
dances and kisses a girl, all for the first time.
But then comes the pain—he sees the agony of war, the horror
of starvation, the ugliness of cruelty, and every other ignoble aspect of human
history. This opens Jonas’ eyes both to the ways things have been and to the
way things are now. And so he wonders: Is the relative tranquility of the
community worth it? Are joy and pleasure and dancing and true love worthy
sacrifices for the sake of peace and prosperity? These are the questions—the
questions no one wants to consider but on which everything hangs—that Jonas
must answer.
That “The Giver” falls a little short cannot be blamed on
the source material, of course. Nor can it be blamed on the acting. Jeff
Bridges, Meryl Streep, Brenton Thwaites, and Odeya Rush, for example, do a nice
job. Nor is the cinematography to blame. This movie is beautiful.
No, I blame it on the writing and, to some extent, the
directing. The dialogue and voice-over is sometimes cheesy and overwrought. The
pacing is often all wrong. And some of the scenes are not handled with the
delicacy they deserve.
But you know, I still enjoyed this movie. I enjoyed it
because it is beautiful, and because
many of the actors are engaging. And
I enjoyed it because the source material—with all of its layers, ingenuity, moral
insight and everything else—cannot help but shine through.
