The Giver (2014)

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General		Extras
Category	Science Fiction	Featurette-Making Of Featurette-"Ordinary Human"
Rating
Year Of Production	2014
Running Time	97:19
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Phillip Noyce Michael Mitnick Robert B. Weide Lois Lowry
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	None Given
Case	?
RPI	?	Music	None Given

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 2.0
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    In amongst the recent rush of young adult novel adaptations there was an adaptation of a book made which has been in the works for 20 years. It is an adaptation of a book published in the 1990s by Lois Lowry called The Giver. It is the first of a series of four novels, known collectively as The Giver Quartet. According to the extras, Jeff Bridges approached the author about film rights for the book soon after it was first published and he has been working on getting it to the screen since then. He is a producer and star of this adaptation, however, his original plan was to film it with his father Lloyd Bridges playing the titular role. Now, 20 years later, he is of an appropriate age to play the character and obviously the late Lloyd Bridges is no longer available. This was reasonably successful at the box office but certainly doesn't have the profile of a Divergent or Hunger Games film.

    The story here occurs in a post-apocalyptic (referred to as 'The Ruin' here) world where control is being exerted over a small populace in a refuge/settlement to reduce the risk of conflict. Everyone is treated equally and they must all have daily medications to reduce emotional response and to even make them only see in black and white. The plan is that by reducing emotional response there will be less conflict, however, both positive and negative emotions are reduced by the medication, making the society quite calm and a little boring. However, the people have also agreed to have their memories of the old world erased so that they do not recall what emotions and things like love and the joy of family are like. Babies are assigned to families rather than staying with their natural parents and once educated they are given jobs within the community such as baby care nurturers, drone pilots or birth mothers.

    The plot focuses on one young boy, Jonas (Brenton Thwaites) who arrives at the time to be assigned his life role early in the film. After everyone else has been assigned role from the common occupations it is announced that he will become the new Receiver of Memories. This role within the community is the only person who has any memories of the world before the current society. His role is to advise the Elders on mistakes made in the past to ensure they are not made again as everyone else has no memories. The current receiver is played by Jeff Bridges. Once the new receiver is appointed (in this case Jonas) the previous receiver becomes known as The Giver. It is obvious that once people get older they are killed to ensure a lack of over population, referred to by the euphemism 'Release to Elsewhere'. Due to their lack of memory and reduced emotions the general community does not seem to realise that this means death. A similar approach is taken to twins, who due to their emotional bond cannot both remain within the community. Accordingly the stronger is chosen and the other 'released'. The settlement is presided over by the Chief Elder (Meryl Streep) and Jonas' assigned father (Alexander Skarsgard) runs the baby nurturing clinic and presides over the 'releases'. Jonas needs to receive the memories on behalf of the settlement and learn how to control them from The Giver. As he undertakes this task he learns more than he probably wanted to know and it changes his perspectives on the settlement in which he lives. What action if any will he take, once he understands more?

    This film was directed by Australian director, Philip Noyce who does a fine job with interesting material. The concept here is very intriguing and certainly gets its audience thinking. Questions such as 'Would we be better off with no emotions at all instead of both positive and negative ones?' are posed by this film and the story, although hardly all action, is interesting and holds your interest. The acting is of good quality without being outstanding. Great use is made of colour (or the lack of it) with the first part of the film being totally in black and white with the gradual introduction of colour as Jonas learns more and starts to think differently. This is a very welcome device and adds to the audience's understanding of what it would be like to live in such a settlement. The only criticism I would mount for this film is that it perhaps lacks a little drama at times due to the lack of any obvious antagonist. Regardless it is certainly interesting a fans of films with this style of post-apocalyptic setting will certain enjoy its interesting premise. Fans of the book will find some minor changes, however, this adaptation was made with the guidance of the author and based on the extras she seems to be comfortable with the changes made.

    Recommended.

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Menu

    The menu features music and scenes from the film.

Making The Giver - From Page to Screen (21:39)

    A better than usual making of which includes interviews with the author, cast and crew and discussions about the book, themes, the development process, casting, roles and the production itself. Worth a look.

"Ordinary Human" Featurette (2:45)

    This film is available here and overseas on Blu-ray which features significantly more extras along with high def transfers. From a DVD perspective there is a Region 1 release but unfortunately I cannot find any details about its contents. Buy Local for DVD.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is very good.

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