Well, this is the original movie. It was made with nonprofessional actor kids in Puerto Rico. Unsurprisingly, only one of the kids went on to have a real career as an actor, and it was the kid who plays Ralph, the last bastion of British society. Everybody else seems to have gone the way of poor Piggy - struck in the head by the cold, hard reality of being a child actor - nobody wants you when you're not cute anymore.
Actually, the other thing I was thinking about while I watched this was how much this story has entered into our everyday consciousness. Deep, huh? If you think about it, even Harry Potter is a version of Lord of the Flies. Look at Harry, dark haired, sensible, kind, civilized like Ralph. Look at Draco Malfoy. He's blond, aggressive, and prone to fascistic evil like Jack. Ron Weasely starts out life as a character like Piggy. Think about it. You know I'm right.
The movie looks a lot like Michael Apted's Up series, but in the jungle. You could replace some of the members of that movie series in here, too. Look - it's Neil as Simon! Since everyone knows the story, there's lots of fun games that can be played while watching this movie.
It really is a good movie. Probably the best movie version of the story we'll ever have. If you're not tired of the story by now, you should definitely give this version a watch.
No comments:
Post a Comment