The Golden Compass Did you ever get the feeling you were being had? The Golden Compass is based on the first novel of "His Dark Materials Trilogy" by Philip Pullman. The author (Pullman) makes no bones about the fact that his books are about how repressive churches are.
First, and does this bother anyone else beside me, Mr. Pullman uses many of the same devices to put his story across, that churches use to put their own stories across, so I have a hard time taking his anti-church agenda seriously. I don't really think it accomplishes what it sets out to do, and there are probably a lot better ways to approach the subject than fantasy (I haven't read the books so I don't mind being proved wrong). For a start you might hang with Bertrand Russell (a little heavy for kids mind you), "The God Delusion" (now that WOULD make a great kids movie and one that they might actually learn something by watching it), or even Jonathan Millers program "Brief History of Disbelief" which is very good and worth seeking out (as is anything by Jonathan Miller), but hasn't made a big splash in the USA yet. I am not convinced that fantasy is the best way to put this particular subject across. The subject of religion already has PLENTY of fantasy in it without adding more on top of it. I think it just muddies the water, instead of making it clearer. The funniest comment I have heard on the subject from TV or the movies is in the first season of Extras where Ricky Gervais' character admits he doesn't believe in God, but then adds that he doesn't believe in leprechauns or fairies either. Touché. There is nothing in The Golden Compass that slices anywhere as near as hard as that single comment.
In The Golden Compass, the movie, the church/religious angle is played down quite a bit. There is still a bit of the anti-religious themes left here and there, but the philosophy part of the movie feels very heavy handed and half-baked, not a true discussion or presentation of ideas. There have been protest here and there about this movie, but as far as actually attacking the church, the movie is pretty tame stuff. The other thing is, this feels like a Harry Potter rip-off, though The Golden Compass does have its strong points.
 One of those strong points is that The Golden Compass is one really good looking movie. The special effects are well integrated into the script, and we feel like we have entered a real world (one that wants to make money on the same people that bought Harry Potter tickets). The movie looks great. If you are a fan of special effects movies, then you should probably check this one out. And the special effects never take over the movie; they are used to move the plot forward. Another nice touch is that the main character of the story is female, and is played by a feisty Dakota Blue Richards (though she can't really save the movie on her acting merits alone). The movie has a strong cast, with Nicole Kidman as Marisa Coulter. Also the plot is fairly easy to follow, though there are times when I doubted that I WANTED to follow it. Also on the good side, the movie throws you several curves and is very creative. It was hard to guess where the movie was going; there are things in here that we have not seen before (and some of them include MONKEYS, evil MONKEYS).
This also has the The Empire Strikes Back problem in that there is no real ending. At the conclusion of the movie, was I dying to know what happened next? No. But I would probably go see it anyway, just to take in the special effects. I felt like this movie was a really good con job, but as far as con jobs go, it was one of the better ones. The Art Institute of Chicago might have a fake statue on their hands, as was recently discovered in the case of "The Faun", but it is still an interesting statue.
You can write James Harper at movielover77061@yahoo.com. |
