Oliver Twist (2005)
Directed by Roman Polanski, this gritty feature film stars Ben Kingsley as Fagin and Barney Clark as Oliver. It is available for online purchase at retailers like Barnes & Noble ($11.36) and Walmart (6.49)
The screen adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic adventure story Oliver Twist depicts the harsh conditions of poverty in nineteenth-century London where the gap between the rich and the poor is huge. Those on the bottom are forced on a daily basis to come up with creative and daring ways to feed themselves. Those without families who are thrown upon the mercies of others find themselves treated shabbily. Meanwhile, the rich look down their noses at those who are poor and try to find ways to exploit them.
Nine-year old orphan Oliver Twist is brought to a grimy pauper’s workhouse where other abandoned and abused souls like him are warehoused and treated as if they were animals. When this newcomer asks for more gruel after being served only a small portion, he is taken by Mr. Bumble to appear before the Board. These men brand him as a trouble-maker. He is apprenticed to an undertaker who is intrigued by his sweet and sad face. His new employer decides to use Oliver as a “mute” mourner at funerals. This sparks the ire of another boy who taunts him about being a foundling and insults his mother.
This screen version of the classic by Charles Dickens novel offers a glimpse of the newly industrialized London where life is a struggle for those on the bottom.
Though we live in a different country and at a different time there are still social abuses that plague modern societies. It is unusual to see a movie where the protagonist stands out from all the rest on account of his good manners.