There seemed to be a dry spell in good movies to rent over the last few months. All the good flicks come out in theaters over Christmas or the summer, and leaves the you a few months of wait time for redbox options. Since we got hit with some really icy and cold weather here in Atlanta, the schools shut down all week. That means Gabe was off as well, and we kindly obliged to the chance on catching up with a little R&R. I had completely forgot The Giver came out in theaters! It is a strong movie based on the novel by Lois Lowry. An easy watch, but it leaves you with deeper thoughts than you bargained for…
The film starts in black and white in a futuristic country that seems to be man-made or set apart from the rest. It is a contrived world, where from birth, children are taken from their “birthmothers”, and then assigned to a family unit. You are only with your family unit until you are assigned with a task as an adult member of the community. This world is a well oiled machine. Everything runs like clockwork. There is no pain or emotions. Just a smooth running society overseen by the Elders. Jonas, the main character in the film has more perceptive qualities than the rest of the citizens, and when the time comes, he is assigned “Receiver of Memory.” A role which only one receives every blue moon. It embarks him on a training with “The Giver of Memory” played by Jeff Bridges.
The plot is fascinating as The Giver slowly pulls back the red curtain to the reality of the world they live in, and through his instruction, Jonas receives the memories of the world past. Emotions, love, hate, war, peace are all received into his memory in small pieces. Something that is overwhelming and painful at times, but the depth of relationships is something the current society is without. Jonas realized their controlled world is missing the very heart of what makes life worth living, even though sometimes pain must exist with it. The film starts to reveal more color in the scenes as you are drawn into the story. It parallels perfectly with how you experience the movie.
Even though Jonas is supposed to be the keeper of these memories, he starts on a mission to blow them wide open in order to bring back the reasons for truly living. Katie Holmes and Taylor swift have roles in the film, but I would say Meryl Streep plays the most compelling female role as chief Elder. She is the only other person besides The Giver who remembers how it once was. She plays the antagonist role as the only other person who remembers the world as The Giver does. She begins to suspect he is training Jonas to do away with the world they had built, and adds to the suspense of what the outcome of the story will be.
I hope I have you intrigued enough;) When a film comes along that has some depth to it, I think it’s worth a whole blog post because it doesn’t happen often! So, if you are stuck indoors this weekend, here is your flick to watch!
P.S. What recs do you have? Here’s the last movie that got a whole blog post;)
