Review: The Giver

The Giver is the latest in what seems to be an endless assembly line of adaptations of popular young adult fiction. As with The Hunger Games, Divergent and The Maze Runner trilogies, The Giver centers on a chosen one who will eventually disrupt and restore the new world order.

The Giver's dystopian society is more akin to Divergent's than The Hunger Games: the Communities are a seemingly sterile utopia where inhabitants are assigned their place in life, use precise language, wear their assigned clothing, take their daily medication, obey the curfew, and never lie. Conflict is non-existent as colour, fear, pain, envy, and memories of humankind's past have been eradicated. Sameness is key though Jonas (Brenton Thwaites) finds the Chief Elder (Meryl Streep) has other plans for him during the assignation ceremony. As Jonas possesses all four attributes - intelligence, courage, integrity, and the capacity to see beyond - he is selected to be the next Receiver, who is the only person who has all the memories.

As Jonas's tutelage progresses under the current Receiver, now called the Giver (Jeff Bridges), his discovery of new things, sensations and emotions becomes a dangerous burden. He finds himself at odds with the constraints set by the Chief Elder who, concerned with the boy's curiosity, reminds the Giver that "we cannot afford another failure."

Having never read Lois Lowry's critically and commercially acclaimed 1993 novel - the bridge between dystopian classics such as Brave New World and this era's similarly themed young adult fiction - I can't speak to the faithfulness of the adaptation. At a brisk 97 minutes, the movie does feel condensed but it manages to convey the novel's themes of conformity, free choice and the perils of a man-made utopia.

Director Phillip Noyce and cinematographer Ross Emery present the Communities first in panoramic black and white and then in gradual colour to match Jonas's progression. Montages convey the sensory process - clips of ivory hunters, the Vietnam War, Tiananmen Square, whir by and damn if that final montage doesn't pluck at the heartstrings.

Thwaites does a good job but still needs some time to grow as an actor. Bridges and Streep easily command the screen - if only there were more scenes like the one towards the end of the film: the Giver pleading for the right to have beauty and love and happiness, the Chief Elder lamenting the pitfalls of letting a society choose for itself. Special mention to Odeya Rush who impresses as Jonas's love interest Fiona; she is one to keep an eye on.

The Giver

Directed by: Phillip Noyce

Written by: Michael Mitnick, Robert E. Weide; adapted from Lois Lowry's novel

Starring: Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep, Brenton Thwaites, Odeya Rush, Katie Holmes, Alexander Skarsgaard