As an adaptation of Lloyd Jones’ award winning novel of the same name, Andrew Adamson has taken this story and breathed a visually rich and emotionally moving story to life on the big screen.
On the island of Bougainville it’s idyllic, with white sandy beaches and crystal blue water, palm trees that are as tall as buildings and everything is peaceful and in harmony. But this paradise is soon to be torn apart by civil war and our heroine Matilda (Xannjah) uses the guidance of her strict Christian mother Dolores (Xannjah’s actual mother in real life Healesville Joel), and her teacher Mr Watts (Hugh Laurie) who reads the story of Charles Dickens’ ‘Great Expectations’ to deliver her through the trauma. Matilda’s vivid imagination brings Pip (Eka Darville) and the world of Dickens’ Victorian England to life and to seem as real as everything around her, and it’s her mind that in the end saves her from the horrors that befall her life.
It sounds cliché but it’s a story about redemption and the strength of spirit and the ability to use stories as an escape. Matilda is an average young girl, with equal parts whimsical and rebellious streaks. Mr Watts is a self-confessed unprofessional without any teaching credentials but as the last remaining white man on the island feels that he can help by reading to the children. It is their shared love of ‘Great Expectations’ that enables them to bond and overcome their demons. With only her surroundings to paint the initial picture, Matilda conjures up a Victorian England that looks like a mash-up with the Pacific Islands. Ladies wandering sandy streets wearing corseted and puffy sleeved dresses of luridly bright neons, while the men wear suits with velvet vests and top hats in just as blinding a range of colours. It’s vastly different to what we normally see in period pieces but it aptly conveys Matilda’s colourful imagination and blends her real surroundings into her imagined world.
All the imagination in the world though won’t detract from the sometimes graphic scenes of violence and brutality that Adamson is unafraid to depict in the last quarter of the film. The arrival of the rebels and the Army bring with it horrors that are all too real and Matilda and Mr Watts as well as the rest of their village get caught amongst it in tragic ways. There’s something unsettling about the dramatic shift in this film from capricious and light-hearted to dark and cruel but it rings with a certain level of honesty since this would’ve been not far off the mark for those that actually endured the civil war in Bougainville. Adamson has managed to capture this essence by ensuring that the movie was filmed in various remote locations around Bougainville, and apart from Hugh Laurie, the rest of our cast are unknowns, but who all manage to convincingly portray their respective characters with a real genuine touch.
Mr Pip is an interestingly unique film that swings from heartfelt and moving to heart breaking and intense. Beautifully shot, with majestic costuming and breath taking cinematography it can be a little uncomfortable to reconcile this against the severe and dark shift in the last quarter of the film. Thankfully there is redemption, not only for our heroine Matilda, but also the viewer, we at least end on a somewhat happy note and the film manages to depict what it sets out to – a story about story.
Review Score: Two and a half stars out of five
Mr. Pip is released in Australian cinemas this Thursday, 7th November, through Paramount.
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