Based on a tale surrounding two suburban
kids who tries to make a quid selling scrap The Selfish Giant is a brilliant
and a heart moving film. Beautifully filmed portraying the landscape beauty of
urban lifestyle and very powerfully performed by the young actors this sure is
great cinema from Great Britain.
Arbor and Swifty are 13 year olds
who come from the working class families. Though best friends they have very
different perspective of childhood and life. Arbor is a troubled kid with
disrespect towards the elders and does not believe that the education system
can do him any good. While Swifty is a silent and an obedient kid who has some
skills and empathy towards his senseless friend. While both of them influence
each other for good and the bad they find selling scrap to a dealer in the town
can get them some cash to help their difficulties at home. But the strategy
they use to find the scrap puts them in tragic circumstances.
The Selfish Giant is a character
driven movie. Both Arbor’s and Swifty’s characters are complex and has deeper
meanings which were shapes up by the society they live in. Partially ignored by
their parents and mistreated by the people surrounding them pushes their quest
for independence which ultimately leads them down a dark abyss. The movie
portrays how a child can become easily misguided when they lack proper guidance
from their elders. It’s not a matter of lack of love but lack of interaction and
care to be precise. And the movie speaks loudly about the ill society that the
children grow up in as well.
The real strength of the movie is
the performance by Conner Chapman who plays Arbor. He does a fine job at
portraying this very challenging character and as viewers we are left to decide
if to punish him or to care for him. Maybe that’s the decision the people who interact
with Arbor have to live with day in and day out. And that’s not something
comfortable to deal with. The other characters also are well acted. When it
comes to the plot it’s different and unpredictable. And it’s certainly very dark
and gloomy. The cinematography blend in all
the elements well and the viewer’s get lost in Arbors world.
Genre: Drama
Director: Clio Barnard
No comments:
Post a Comment