The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, Harry Potter Six, and Twilight

Good day, good day!

Review-time!

In the past week, I have watched three films: Twilight, in Dundlod, while it was projected onto the wall of the Fort, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, in a cinema in Jaipur, and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, in my humble living room. I have strong thoughts on each of these successful movies, and so I'm going to share my valueless opinion on each of them.

I think I'll do them in the order in which I saw them, which means I must begin with Twilight.

I was never particularly attracted to the idea. Hearing girls twittering amongst themselves, drooling over one Edward Cullen, put me off. I mentally rejected Twilight and placed it in the same box as High School Musical. Vampires, while undoubtedly interesting creatures, have been over-done a bit, in my opinion. I couldn't see how after years of generic movies about the Undead, and a century on from Dracula, they could be attractive in the context of the VERY unattractive American high school movie.

The film wasn't disappointing because I was expecting to be disappointed, so when it was as bad as I thought it would be, I was spared great dissatisfaction. Edward Cullen's character, which seems to have charmed most of the world's teenage girls, was very unappealing. His over-protectiveness of Bella, the heroine, and his stalker-ish tendencies were rather suffocating, I felt, so God help me if a vampire ever falls in love with me. The ending, which was supposed to be a cliffhanger, still seemed to leave the film unfinished and unfulfilling.

This isn't to mention the fact that very little actually HAPPENS. The film is set in a dreary place, and most of the characters are dreary. There is a shortage of actual events, and I seem to remember that for most of the film Bella and Edward seemed to be throwing each other meaningful glances which I suppose was intended to come across as sexual tension. Not very successfully.

Having watched the film, I bought a copy of the original novel at Delhi airport for £4.09. I thought it was worth spending such a small amount of money to try and get to the bottom of why people are so in love with the storyline (I wanted to believe the other girls on the trip when they assured me that the novel is better than the film and I shouldn't be put off). I'm now over half way through; because I'd expected it to be bad, having seen the movie, I'm actually finding myself pleasantly surprised. Stephenie Meyer may not be the world's best writer of prose, but she isn't as awful as I expected, and there are some good descriptions in there. Her style isn't as frustrating as the screenplay, and in spite of myself I am enjoying reading the book. Yet the fact still remains that Twilight, both book and film, have been hyped up beyond the level that they deserve. The story is neither original or endearing. Nor is Edward Cullen.

Now onto an adaptation of a genuinely good novel: the sixth installment of Harry Potter. I will confess that Half Blood Prince isn't my favourite of the series, but I feel that the novel is approximately fifty times better than the film. I wasn't hugely impressed.

I will copy and paste the message I sent to one of my friends regarding the film, because I've already discussed it so many times so I don't want to write about it again!

"Well, Harry Potter. Not the best. It was beautifully filmed, looked
amazing, lovely costumes, special effects and sets. Great one-liners (my
personal favourite: "I do love knitting patterns"). Very funny, very enjoyable.
BUT. They took too much artistic license (as in, added too much stuff that
wasn't in the book, I wasn't happy about the Burrow burning down AT ALL). They
spent so much time focusing on the teenage relationships that they didn't
explain horcruxes properly. Lots didn't make sense if you hadn't read the book.
Kiss between Harry and Ginny disappointing. Ending not dramatic enough. In its
favour, I really loved moments of it, like I think they dealt with the Draco
storyline well, I loved the Weasley shop, and I thought for once that Emma
Watson acted well (a novelty!). I liked the opening too, with the bridge. But I
thought, overall, it was a film of good moments, rather than a really good
film."

Now I come to my final film, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. I've wanted to see this for a while, as I'm intrigued by the concept of seeing the holocaust through the eye of a child.

It's an exceptionally well-made, well-acted film. The attention to detail is fantastic. The story is more symbolic than realistic -- the likelihood of the son of a concentration camp Commandant having any kind of relationship with an inmate of the camp is practically zero -- and if you've seen the shocking ending, you'll realise why. This is a deep and impressive moral fable that isn't for historical accuracy (watch Schindler's List to see a distressing account of the reality of the holocaust), but for human understanding. Every young person should see this, every old person should see this. You'll need your tissues, but if you're anything like me you'll also need people to talk it through with as it raises so many interesting topics for discussion and debate.

I really want to read the book now, but I don't think I'd want to watch the film again!

That's that then.

Yours in film-loving,

J xxx