TALK ABOUT MOVIES
2006 Talk About Movies
November/December
September/October
July/August
June
May
April
March
February
January
ARTICLES
Little Notes
Letters
Confessions
Roamin' Catholic
Follow Me
Contents © 2006
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.
TALK ABOUT MOVIES
March 2006
THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE
Directed by Andrew Adamson. Starring Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, William Moseley, Anna Popplewell. 2005, 140 minutes, English/German, USA, Color. In theaters.
Matthew: Edmund gets a backstory -- when he disobeys his mother at the outset, it's to rescue a photo of his father from the bombs. Peter yells at him: "Why can't you just do as you're told?" He's a bit stampeded, and even misunderstood. It makes it easier to understand why he is so totally seduced by the queen's kindness and flattery. He does a great evil, but it doesn't come out of nowhere.
Ernie: I didn't like it. I thought it was an attempt to get me to feel for Edmund, which C.S. Lewis didn't seem to intend. In the book, he comes off as being so selfish that only a catastrophe resulting from that selfishness can show him the error of his ways.
Matthew: Nonsense. He realizes his mistake when the queen turns on him, and that happens before any real catastrophe. He is selfish, though -- his betrayal of Lucy when he lies about finding Narnia is plain meanness.
Ernie: Peter does own that his officiousness plays a part in Edmund's behavior. Honor, and right and wrong, are very strong themes. Mr. Tumnus does the right thing by not turning Lucy in, and he does it at great personal risk.
Matthew: He had every intention of turning her in when he met her -- he was in the pay of the White Witch, after all -- but that was because he'd never met a daughter of Eve -- she was only an abstract reality for him. He'd never talked to a girl, had tea with her. After he encountered her as a person, he realized the horror of what he had agreed to do.
* * *
Matthew: I was sad that they eliminated so much of the prophecy that Mr. and Mrs. Beaver quoted in the book. The whole story is the fulfillment of a prophecy.
Ernie: But the sacrifice -- which is the central moment -- was given its full due. n