Oliver Twist (2005)
Directed by Roman Polanski

Film Review

With David Lean's Oliver Twist (1948) and Carol Reed's Oliver! (1968) to contend with, director Roman Polanski certainly had his work cut out for him when he embarked on his own adaptation of Charles Dickens' famous novel about the cute little orphan boy  who had the temerity to ask for more.  Having himself endured an extremely traumatic childhood, Polanski was well-placed to conjure up a child's-eye view of the horrors of Victorian England.  By making some judicious trims to Dickens' sprawling narrative and focussing on Oliver's experiences, he achieves just this - the grimmest depiction of an industrial land mired in filth and degradation, a place that clearly has no regard for the well-being of abandoned children.

The film has a similar nightmarish quality to that of Polanski's previous film, The Pianist (2002), but is noticeably lacking in character depth.  If the characters appear shallow and uninteresting, that is partly down to the mediocre script, which reduces most of the characters to thinly sketched caricatures, and partly down to the lacklustre casting.  The performances are far from poor but they lack the attention-grabbing impact that we find, say, in David Lean's film.  Ben Kingsley's Fagin is sympathetically drawn but has none of the sinister edge and charm of Alec Guinness's portrayal; Jamie Foreman's Sikes looks like a shrinking violet compared with Oliver Reed's unforgettably sadistic portrayal in Oliver!; and Barney Clark (Oliver) has so little presence that you hardly notice him.  In fact, the only cast member to shine is Turbo, who out-stages everything in sight as the uncannily intelligent pooch Bullseye.

Even though the film fails in virtually every other respect, it is visually stunning, the art design and cinematography achieving a memorably haunting evocation of Victorian England at its most dank and putrid (apparently inspired by Gustav Doré's engravings of mid-19th century London).  The gruesome rooftop denouement is superbly well staged and lacks impact only because we find it to so hard to engage with any of the protagonists.  (Edward Hardwick's Brownlow is the only character we are allowed to develop any real sympathy for, so it's no surprise that our interest dips whenever he goes out of shot.)  Polanksi is clearly far more concerned with creating a strong visual impression than telling a story with well rounded characters that we can identify with.  Whilst the film is artfully made, it has little in the way of dramatic impact and feels like a rather mechanical exercise in style for its own sake.  However, like all of Roman Polanski's films, there is a spark of genius about this 21st century reinterpretation of Dickens' enduring classic, and, imperfect though it is, it is definitely worth the effort.  If it persuades you to go and read the novel, it has probably done its job.

Film Synopsis

Some time towards the middle of the 19th century, Oliver Twist, a nine-year-old orphan, is placed in the care of a workhouse in a provincial English town.  When he dares to ask for more food, he receives a severe reprimand from the workhouse governors, who agree the time has come for him to be sold into work.  Oliver soon finds himself in the employ of the funeral director Mr Sowerberry, but after getting into a scrap with an older apprentice he runs away and heads for London, where he hopes to make his fortune.  Exhausted and half-starved when he reaches the capital, Oliver gladly accepts food from a slightly older boy who introduces himself as the Artful Dodger.  Oliver allows his new friend to take him to a hideout he shares with several other young pickpockets and their elderly leader, Fagin.  Playing on Oliver's naivety, Fagin attempts to turn him into a thief, but the boy is arrested when two of his fellows give him a lesson in the art of pickpocketing.  The victim of the crime, a wealthy gentleman named Mr Brownlow, takes pity on Oliver and invites him to stay at his grand house.   When Fagin's criminal accomplice, Bill Sikes, hears about this he is furious.  Fearing that the boy will betray Fagin and his gang to the authorities, Sikes decides that he must be abducted and killed...