Oliver Twist (Roman Polanski, France, 2005, 130mins)
It is not difficult to see what has drawn Roman Polanski to Oliver Twist, Dickens’ enduringly popular classic tale about an orphan boy who gets caught up with a gang of pickpockets in 19th century London. With its central theme of hardship faced by the dispossessed, it is essentially a story of survival.
Made after his Oscar-winning holocaust film, The Pianist, Oliver Twist is Polanski’s attempt to make a film for the whole family. On the whole, this handsome looking adaptation is entertaining enough, but it lacks the grit, grime and narrational dynamic that would have made it stand out in its own right against David Lean’s 1948 expressionistic, nightmarish black/white version or Carol Reed’s 1968 musical hit Oliver!, with which it is bound to be compared.
The film starts beautifully: Oliver Twist (a meek but effective Barney Clarke) is returned to the local workhouse by Mr Bumble (Jeremy Swift) when his years working in the fields of the village are over. Branded a troublemaker from the beginning, Oliver is offered as an apprentice to anyone who will have him—penance for having dared ask or more gruel at the evening meal. Narrowly escaping apprenticeship as a chimney sweep, a fate not much better than death in Victorian England, Oliver is given a menial position at the village coffin-maker, the henpecked Mr Sowerberry (Michael Heath) and his shrew of a wife. After an altercation with a more senior employee, Noah Claypole (Chris Overton) that results in a beating, Oliver escapes to London, where he meets pickpocket The Artful Dodger (the wonderful Harry Eden) and is introduced to Fagin (Ben Kingsley) and his band of merry thieves. When Oliver is falsely arrested for stealing Mr Brownlow’s (Edward Hardwicke) handkerchief and passes out in the police station from fatigue and ill health, the gentleman takes pity on the young boy and takes him home to his comfortable town house in Pentonville. With his dirty, smelly rags burned and his freshly scrubbed skin attired in brand new clothes, Oliver is the very picture of decency.
Meanwhile, Fagin, terrified that Oliver will alert the authorities to the gang’s activities, instructs violent thug Bill Sykes (the terrifying Jamie Forman) to collect him from the house and return him to the hovel in Spitalfields, where him and the boys live. Back in the den, Oliver is tricked into describing Mr Brownlow’s house and, before he knows it, is taken back and forced to break into his benefactor’s home. Sykes shoot Oliver by mistake when Brownlow wakes and is rushed back to Spitalfields, where Fagin and Sykes plan to kill him. Nancy (Leanne Rowe), Sykes’ girlfriend, unable to sanction Oliver’s murder, informs Brownlow of Oliver’s position and the police close in…
The story may have been part of our subconscious since the famous 1968 musical version starring Mark Lester, but does Polanski’s version offer anything new (or different) to what we already know about the The Parish Boy’s Progress? Certainly, Polanski’s Twist is an attempt at a “back to the source” adaptation that introduces elements of Dickens’ story that were ignored or changed by recent adaptations – the venue of Nancy’s murder being one obvious but important example (in the 1968 version, Nancy is murdered on London Bridge, here, as in Dickens’ book, she is brutally bludgeoned in the claustrophobic and far more disturbing interior of her own room).
Polanski’s version also presents a Fagin that is not intrinsically evil, but is more a product of his brutal environment. Even though Kingsley’s Fagin is played as the racial stereotype of the hoarding Jew (how else can one interpret Dickens’ detailed character description), there is a glimmer of goodness (and even melancholy) in the hunched and hideous man that has been missing from other adaptations. In the films final scenes, when Oliver visits Fagin, who is preparing to be hanged in a few hours, there is a touching moment of understanding between the two characters that is the result of their shared struggle to survive as outsiders (as Jew and as orphan). Polanski’s intrinsic understanding of this bond as a result of his own experience as an outsider, makes Fagin a partly sympathetic character but also one that is worthy of more study.
Polanski’s film is beautifully designed – from the dim and dirty scenes in the workhouse to the opulent interiors of Brownlow’s house, no expense has been spared. Performances too are strong and convincing – in particular Jamie Forman makes a huge impression as the psychotic Bill Sykes and Harry Eden as Dodger is perfect. Where the film disappoints is in its flatness of tone that is all too sparingly interspersed with brief moments of action and its refusal to truly engage with the filth and degradation of London’s streets. If Polanski had followed Lean’s lead, rather than obsessing over making Oliver Twist suitable for the whole family, his adaptation would have been something truly special.
Oliver Twist is released in the UK on the 7th of October 2005
Review by Erica Rosen and Barnaby Welch
Made after his Oscar-winning holocaust film, The Pianist, Oliver Twist is Polanski’s attempt to make a film for the whole family. On the whole, this handsome looking adaptation is entertaining enough, but it lacks the grit, grime and narrational dynamic that would have made it stand out in its own right against David Lean’s 1948 expressionistic, nightmarish black/white version or Carol Reed’s 1968 musical hit Oliver!, with which it is bound to be compared.
The film starts beautifully: Oliver Twist (a meek but effective Barney Clarke) is returned to the local workhouse by Mr Bumble (Jeremy Swift) when his years working in the fields of the village are over. Branded a troublemaker from the beginning, Oliver is offered as an apprentice to anyone who will have him—penance for having dared ask or more gruel at the evening meal. Narrowly escaping apprenticeship as a chimney sweep, a fate not much better than death in Victorian England, Oliver is given a menial position at the village coffin-maker, the henpecked Mr Sowerberry (Michael Heath) and his shrew of a wife. After an altercation with a more senior employee, Noah Claypole (Chris Overton) that results in a beating, Oliver escapes to London, where he meets pickpocket The Artful Dodger (the wonderful Harry Eden) and is introduced to Fagin (Ben Kingsley) and his band of merry thieves. When Oliver is falsely arrested for stealing Mr Brownlow’s (Edward Hardwicke) handkerchief and passes out in the police station from fatigue and ill health, the gentleman takes pity on the young boy and takes him home to his comfortable town house in Pentonville. With his dirty, smelly rags burned and his freshly scrubbed skin attired in brand new clothes, Oliver is the very picture of decency.
Meanwhile, Fagin, terrified that Oliver will alert the authorities to the gang’s activities, instructs violent thug Bill Sykes (the terrifying Jamie Forman) to collect him from the house and return him to the hovel in Spitalfields, where him and the boys live. Back in the den, Oliver is tricked into describing Mr Brownlow’s house and, before he knows it, is taken back and forced to break into his benefactor’s home. Sykes shoot Oliver by mistake when Brownlow wakes and is rushed back to Spitalfields, where Fagin and Sykes plan to kill him. Nancy (Leanne Rowe), Sykes’ girlfriend, unable to sanction Oliver’s murder, informs Brownlow of Oliver’s position and the police close in…
The story may have been part of our subconscious since the famous 1968 musical version starring Mark Lester, but does Polanski’s version offer anything new (or different) to what we already know about the The Parish Boy’s Progress? Certainly, Polanski’s Twist is an attempt at a “back to the source” adaptation that introduces elements of Dickens’ story that were ignored or changed by recent adaptations – the venue of Nancy’s murder being one obvious but important example (in the 1968 version, Nancy is murdered on London Bridge, here, as in Dickens’ book, she is brutally bludgeoned in the claustrophobic and far more disturbing interior of her own room).
Polanski’s version also presents a Fagin that is not intrinsically evil, but is more a product of his brutal environment. Even though Kingsley’s Fagin is played as the racial stereotype of the hoarding Jew (how else can one interpret Dickens’ detailed character description), there is a glimmer of goodness (and even melancholy) in the hunched and hideous man that has been missing from other adaptations. In the films final scenes, when Oliver visits Fagin, who is preparing to be hanged in a few hours, there is a touching moment of understanding between the two characters that is the result of their shared struggle to survive as outsiders (as Jew and as orphan). Polanski’s intrinsic understanding of this bond as a result of his own experience as an outsider, makes Fagin a partly sympathetic character but also one that is worthy of more study.
Polanski’s film is beautifully designed – from the dim and dirty scenes in the workhouse to the opulent interiors of Brownlow’s house, no expense has been spared. Performances too are strong and convincing – in particular Jamie Forman makes a huge impression as the psychotic Bill Sykes and Harry Eden as Dodger is perfect. Where the film disappoints is in its flatness of tone that is all too sparingly interspersed with brief moments of action and its refusal to truly engage with the filth and degradation of London’s streets. If Polanski had followed Lean’s lead, rather than obsessing over making Oliver Twist suitable for the whole family, his adaptation would have been something truly special.
Oliver Twist is released in the UK on the 7th of October 2005
Review by Erica Rosen and Barnaby Welch
posted by Barnaby at 4:40 PM
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