The Giver (2014)
Writers: Michael Mitnick (screenplay), Robert B.Weide (screenplay), and Lois Lowry (novel).
Cast: Jeff Bridges (The Giver), Meryl Streep (Chief Elder), Brenton Thwaites (Jonas), Alexander Skarsgard (Father), Katie Holmes (Mother), Odeya Rush (Fiona), Cameron Monaghan (Asher), Talyor Swift (Rosemary), and Emma Tremblay (Lilly).
The film is set sometime in the near-future, following a war that started it all, called "The Ruin," in North America a Utopian community living without the basic human understanding of emotions, aspects of what makes a human being whole. The citizens are injected on a daily basis, a circle like pad is pressed, wiping out their memories, everyone in the community follows the rules, they have jobs, each family unit must obey the rules or suffer the consequences. Conflict is suppressed, every unit is manipulated by the Elders that control the community.
The story follows three teenage friends, Jonas (Brenton Thwaites), Asher (Cameron Monaghan), and Fiona (Odeya Rush). The friends find the basic need of fun, going into a structure with a waterfall, on occasion. Something seems different to Jonas (Brenton Thwaites), he notices a change in the color of his friend Fiona's (Odeya Rush) hair. The experience is different, but Jonas (Thwaites) can feel something is wrong.
Walking to the ceremony with his friends, Jonas, and every young person must be prepared for the experience. They will hold a position in the community after the ceremony. The pilot, child-bearer, all will be given a number, and the Chief Elder will address that person, but not by name, but a number. The numbers are called out, one by one, but Jonas is left alone. The Chief Elder explains that he is the one with the most important duty of them all, he is the receiver of memories. The duties will only be known to him.
A building far from the community, Jonas rides his bike to the location, he notices it seems desolate, but as he approaches, he notices the emptiness, a apart of him wants to turn, and go back home, but curiosity strikes him. The young teen puts his bike up against the wall, and walks inside. The staircase leading him to a library, where an older man sits silently looking into the glass in front of him, a panoramic view of the mist surrounding the city, but beyond, the unknown region, far away. The man calls himself the Giver (Jeff Bridges), extends his arms, sitting across from Jonas (Brenton Thwaites), he grabs his arms, as a flash of images storm his brain, almost as if he was looking into a photo-book, but the pictures present themselves in a fast way. The emotions of a wedding, Love, people laughing, all the experiences are crammed into the head of a young teen who yesterday knew he had to attend a ceremony, the very thing that makes up free-will.
Rant: The Utopian society as portrayed in The Giver, is done well, you get an empty feeling with the characters in the film. The basic name, tells a person who you are is erased. Love, anger, the very thing that makes you human is flushed away from the people, but that's how the society starts off, take away free-will, the very thing that makes us unique, you have a robotic society. The rules are made by the Elders, a group of older people that really know nothing of how things are, they take the injections as well, but in small doses. Either way, these folks are drones, telling drones how to survive. People in this film are almost robotic which is a perfect depiction of what was written.The acting is portrayed well here, everything in the script entails a community of drones. By the way is done to perfection, the actors detailed movements and robotic communications reveal the story the way it should be done. Some reviews i have read are pretty harsh on this film, not because of the acting but what the story entails. The Utopian society setting is difficult to take in, but it worked well in the Giver. The folks who reviewed the film didn't understand where the film was going, and that caused a very big problem. The story elements were bland, the action if any came in towards the end, the slowness of the film killed it for many reviewers. But, my review tells a different story, a story of people controlled under the Elders, which the society must strive, because it's only hope of survival is the injections and each other. The film may be slow, but to tell a story of this nature, must not be told with Zack Snyder like action, it's a different kind of a story, one that depicts people carefully, the vision isn't a Tim Burton, or even a John Woo. This film is told slowly, but almost like a twilight zone episode. The vision is unique, a picture perfect tale of manipulation.
Jeff Bridges is a phenomenal actor and makes this film with the help of Meryl Streep, and Alexander Skarsgard and Katie Holmes. These are the main core, and to me they make the film engaging. They lifted Brenton Thwaites, which helped him act in his scenes. The scene with Bridges telling Streep to stop, in the final cuts of the film was epic. The presence of those actors gave me goosebumps, it's like seeing your favorite star for the first time, bumping into him or her, and finally recognizing what happened. That awesome feeling, is the feeling I'm trying to convey between two, very good actors.
The special effects were good, not bad for a film of this nature, even though the effects is surrounding the community and the cool looking drones, as well as the city itself, a good picture, the effects are strong and solid. But, what about the story, i didn't read the books a big shout out the the writer, Lois Lowry, and her wonderful novels so I'm told by many. The film seemed well received, even though it went off track of the books. The story has Jonas as the main protagonists, with the help of his mentor, The Giver himself. The Elders had a little part, but i guess the story felt like something else was cut, or missing. The theme was enough to keep you glued, but not enough to fill the gaps, it seemed like the gaps were to wide, it was missing something, like when you buy a puzzle and one or two pieces are missing, really makes you angry, but the key pieces are gone. The film if you ask me, should've longer running time, just my opinion.
To continue my thoughts above, not only was key pieces missing, but the end, well it ended with everyone getting their memories back. Jonas and baby Gabriel made it to the destination, even after the deep cold, wearing very little and especially the care of a baby which he never did before. I could see if the images the Giver gave Jonas was like the Matrix, the images released into his head were all he needed, Jonas just knows how to do it, but the film never went into that. All in all this film was good, the acting was great but it felt as if there was something missing, that's all, hopefully the sequels if there is one will explain better than this one did.
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