Sim1The Fish on Film Oscar (CONTAINS SPOILERS)
February 28th 2011 20:28
Not that we know what we’re talking about, here at Fish on Film Headquarters, but we would very much like to award our very own ‘Most Heartbreaking Scene’ Oscar to ‘Never Let Me Go’.
As if the book wasn’t heartbreaking enough, Andrew Garfield as Tommy almost killed me.
I recommend you read the book by Kazuo Ishiguro. Not because the film doesn’t do the book justice- it does! But if you only read one book in your short time on this Earth, make it this one.
The novel (and subsequently the film) is told from the viewpoint of Kathy, who at the age of 32 (28 in the film) recalls her childhood and tells us the story of how she spent her time at Hailsham boarding school together with her best friends Tommy and Ruth.
So far, so Harry Potter.
Whilst the book takes its good old time before revealing the whole truth, Alex Garland (‘The Beach’) crammed the whole story into a 103 min script. And he did one hell of a job!
‘None of you will go to America. None of you will work in a supermarket. None of you will reach middle age.’
‘Students of Hailsham are special.’
‘You poor creatures.’
‘None of you will do anything except live the life that has already been set out for you and some time around your third donation, your short life will be complete.’
That’s the horrific truth these kids are being told at an age where they barely understand the difference between boys and girls. Kids who don’t have any parents, because they were cloned from and modelled on ‘real’ humans for the sole purpose of donating their vital organs as and when needed, usually starting in their early twenties.
‘If there were a boy and a girl and they were properly in love and could prove it, then they would be given a few years before they began their donations.’
Ishiguro introduces this rumour in his novel. A rumour born out of despair; it made me weep when reading, but here, it’s on screen! The ‘special students’, faced with the truth of their existence, still believe in ‘Love conquers all.’ Sadly, in both the novel and the film, it doesn’t. Tommy believes the reason they were taught art at Hailsham was for the guardians to be able to look into their soul. And with that insight, be able to determine if someone was really in love and worthy of a ‘deferral’. Having already made three donations, he is devastated to hear that the rumour was never true and the only reason they collected the students’ art was to ‘prove that you had souls at all’.
The book had me in a tight grip of desperation on those characters’ behalf. Now cue Mark Romanek (‘One Hour Photo’) who adds some art shots every now and then to allow the viewer to swallow hard and stop themselves from wailing in the cinema. Moreover, he makes sure that it rains in every other scene, or at least it’s blowing a hooley and the soundtrack is strings galore. That, of course, only refers to the outside scenes. The inside ones are all shot in semi-darkness. We get some very light and short-lived relief at Ruth, Kathy and Tommy’s first outing to Norfolk. It’s the first time they have been allowed out into the real world and are utterly traumatised by the experience. Luckily, they have Bill Weasly of Harry Potter fame with them. But even though that scene was slightly comical, it didn’t make me laugh. And at no point is there any sentimental Hollywood ‘It’s not so bad!’-shit. But then, it’s not Hollywood. It’s raw, it’s heartbreaking, just like the book.
Keira ‘We are modelled on TRASH!’ Knightley as Ruth is a complete bitch in this film, reminiscent of Angela Jolie in ‘Girl, Interrupted’ but the reader of the novel was never invited to particularly like Ruth, so that casting and acting was spot on (and that goes for all three of the main characters). And hats off to Mark Romanek for the scene in which Ruth ‘completes’. The nurse had already warned Kathy that Ruth has had enough and was likely to complete on the next donation. As she flatlines, eyes wide open on the operating table, the doctors very calmly remove (what I assume was) her heart. There is none of the usual frantic rigmarole you usually see in films when the heart monitor makes a continuous beeping noise. Instead, the organ is calmly placed into a bucket and taken away. The surgeon then continues tidying up without giving our Ruth a second thought. He’s clearly been programmed to not think of these people as human.
Anyway, that’s enough spoilers and love declarations to my favourite book and favourite film in a long while.
So, Fish on Film’s Oscar goes to Andrew Garfield (Tommy) and the scene in which he breaks down in the middle of night, on an obscure road; blind and paralysed with frustration and realisation.
He knew, Kathy knew, we all knew that at this point, he had a mere weeks to live. Ruth had already completed.
Kathy is the only one left but she has just been called upon to start donating.
‘Maybe none of us really understand what we’ve lived through. Or feel we’ve had enough time....’
And ain't that the truth, dear readers....
As if the book wasn’t heartbreaking enough, Andrew Garfield as Tommy almost killed me.
I recommend you read the book by Kazuo Ishiguro. Not because the film doesn’t do the book justice- it does! But if you only read one book in your short time on this Earth, make it this one.
The novel (and subsequently the film) is told from the viewpoint of Kathy, who at the age of 32 (28 in the film) recalls her childhood and tells us the story of how she spent her time at Hailsham boarding school together with her best friends Tommy and Ruth.
Whilst the book takes its good old time before revealing the whole truth, Alex Garland (‘The Beach’) crammed the whole story into a 103 min script. And he did one hell of a job!
‘None of you will go to America. None of you will work in a supermarket. None of you will reach middle age.’
‘Students of Hailsham are special.’
‘You poor creatures.’
‘None of you will do anything except live the life that has already been set out for you and some time around your third donation, your short life will be complete.’
That’s the horrific truth these kids are being told at an age where they barely understand the difference between boys and girls. Kids who don’t have any parents, because they were cloned from and modelled on ‘real’ humans for the sole purpose of donating their vital organs as and when needed, usually starting in their early twenties.
‘If there were a boy and a girl and they were properly in love and could prove it, then they would be given a few years before they began their donations.’
Ishiguro introduces this rumour in his novel. A rumour born out of despair; it made me weep when reading, but here, it’s on screen! The ‘special students’, faced with the truth of their existence, still believe in ‘Love conquers all.’ Sadly, in both the novel and the film, it doesn’t. Tommy believes the reason they were taught art at Hailsham was for the guardians to be able to look into their soul. And with that insight, be able to determine if someone was really in love and worthy of a ‘deferral’. Having already made three donations, he is devastated to hear that the rumour was never true and the only reason they collected the students’ art was to ‘prove that you had souls at all’.
The book had me in a tight grip of desperation on those characters’ behalf. Now cue Mark Romanek (‘One Hour Photo’) who adds some art shots every now and then to allow the viewer to swallow hard and stop themselves from wailing in the cinema. Moreover, he makes sure that it rains in every other scene, or at least it’s blowing a hooley and the soundtrack is strings galore. That, of course, only refers to the outside scenes. The inside ones are all shot in semi-darkness. We get some very light and short-lived relief at Ruth, Kathy and Tommy’s first outing to Norfolk. It’s the first time they have been allowed out into the real world and are utterly traumatised by the experience. Luckily, they have Bill Weasly of Harry Potter fame with them. But even though that scene was slightly comical, it didn’t make me laugh. And at no point is there any sentimental Hollywood ‘It’s not so bad!’-shit. But then, it’s not Hollywood. It’s raw, it’s heartbreaking, just like the book.
Keira ‘We are modelled on TRASH!’ Knightley as Ruth is a complete bitch in this film, reminiscent of Angela Jolie in ‘Girl, Interrupted’ but the reader of the novel was never invited to particularly like Ruth, so that casting and acting was spot on (and that goes for all three of the main characters). And hats off to Mark Romanek for the scene in which Ruth ‘completes’. The nurse had already warned Kathy that Ruth has had enough and was likely to complete on the next donation. As she flatlines, eyes wide open on the operating table, the doctors very calmly remove (what I assume was) her heart. There is none of the usual frantic rigmarole you usually see in films when the heart monitor makes a continuous beeping noise. Instead, the organ is calmly placed into a bucket and taken away. The surgeon then continues tidying up without giving our Ruth a second thought. He’s clearly been programmed to not think of these people as human.
Anyway, that’s enough spoilers and love declarations to my favourite book and favourite film in a long while.
So, Fish on Film’s Oscar goes to Andrew Garfield (Tommy) and the scene in which he breaks down in the middle of night, on an obscure road; blind and paralysed with frustration and realisation.
He knew, Kathy knew, we all knew that at this point, he had a mere weeks to live. Ruth had already completed.
Kathy is the only one left but she has just been called upon to start donating.
‘Maybe none of us really understand what we’ve lived through. Or feel we’ve had enough time....’
And ain't that the truth, dear readers....
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