Review: The Girl with All the Gifts
There is a girl. Her name is Melanie. Every morning she wakes up in her dark prison of a room and gets in a manacled wheelchair. Every morning she greets the armed guards who come in to strap her head, arms and legs to the wheelchair and then wheel her out to join the rest of the children to be placed in neat little rows in a classroom.
Why the confinement of such well-mannered innocents? After the disorienting calm comes the horror. The precautions are more than reasonable for these children for they turn into bloodthirsty creatures at the merest whiff of a human. It may take a second or two, but then a chilling chattering sound emits from their contorted faces and the clawing for flesh intensifies.
The intrigue of The Girl with All the Gifts, effectively adapted by Mike Carey from his own novel and confidently directed by Colm McCarthy, derives not from the usual tropes of a zombie genre film but rather from Melanie herself. Played by compelling newcomer Sennia Nenua, Melanie is an unusual case - an instinctive carnivore with the sensitivity and intelligence of a normal human being. She cares for and is cared for by one of her teachers, Helen Justineau (Gemma Arterton), who opposes Dr. Caroline Caldwell's (Glenn Close) aim to dissect Melanie as she believes the child holds the potential cure for the fungal disease that turns humans into zombies, here called "Hungries."
When the Hungries storm the military base that Melanie has called her home for most of her life, she and the survivors of the attack (Helen, Dr. Caldwell, and a small group of soldiers led by Paddy Considine's Sergeant Parks) must traverse through the desolate landscape in order to reach London in hopes of finding more supplies and signal help to the Beacon, a larger military base. The problem is neither Parks nor his soldiers trust Melanie, even after they place a clear muzzle over her face and tie her hands behind her back. Yet the young girl proves an asset as she helps them ward off the other Hungries, who loll about like rag dolls until they are revived into action by the scent and sound of humans.
McCarthy may not offer much in terms of the production design or sociopolitical subtext, but he does succeed in crafting an atmosphere of sustained dread. In this, he is greatly assisted by Cristobal Tapia de Veer, whose haunting score of unearthly wails and pounding drones burrow under the skin. Cinematographer Simon Dennis' nightmarish imagery, especially in the last half of the film, recalls paintings by El Greco and Bosch.
McCarthy also maintains the ambiguity surrounding Melanie, who clearly understands her own nature. She warns Helen and the others when she feels a feeding frenzy about to come on and yet...is she helping the humans or perhaps setting a trap for them? Whether human or otherwise, survival is a natural instinct and one that can justify just about any action. "They just want to live," Melanie notes after a child tribe of Hungries feasts on one of the soldiers. "Everybody wants that."
The Girl with All the Gifts
Directed by: Colm McCarthy
Written by: Mike Carey; adapted from his own novel
Starring: Gemma Arterton, Glenn Close, Paddy Considine, Sennia Nanua, Anamaria Marinca
