THE GOLDEN COMPASS (rated PG13)
In one of the many parallel worlds to our own, the souls of people live outside of their bodies. These spirits are called Daemons (pronounced "demons") and take the form of animals.
In one of the many parallel worlds to our own, the souls of people live outside of their bodies. These spirits are called Daemons (pronounced "demons") and take the form of animals.
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Lyra Belacqua (Dakota Blue Richards) is a young girl who attends a private school with her Daemon Pan where her Uncle, Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig) works. He is a bold scientist who discovers a mysterious and legendary substance called The Dust in the northern part of the world and embarks on a quest to investigate it.
The Magesterium, the world's dogmatic authority, opposes his research and dispatches the beautiful and controlling Mrs. Coulter (Nicole Kidman) to keep tabs on Lord Asriel. She befriends Lyra and invites her to explore the northern country with her.
The Magesterium, the world's dogmatic authority, opposes his research and dispatches the beautiful and controlling Mrs. Coulter (Nicole Kidman) to keep tabs on Lord Asriel. She befriends Lyra and invites her to explore the northern country with her.
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Meanwhile, several children have gone missing, including Roger, a close friend of Lyra. The rumor is they have been kidnapped by The Gobblers, a group of people who sever the connection that children have to their Daemons. A school official secretly entrusts Lyra with an Alethiometer, or Golden Compass, that can tell her the hidden truth about things, but warns her to keep it away from Mrs. Coulter and The Magesterium.
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Lyra discovers Mrs. Coulter's intentions and escapes. She bands together with the armored bear Iorek Byrnison (voiced by Ian McKellen) and an air rider Lee Scorseby (Sam Elliott), a band of nomads called the Gyptians and a clan of witches led by Serafina Pekkula (Eva Green) to find the children and set them free.
INTENTIONS OF THE FILMMAKERS
This movie is written by noted atheist and author Phillip Pullman, and is based on the novel "Northern Lights," the first book in the "His Dark Materials" trilogy. The book refers to The Church (which the movie calls The Magesterium) as an evil, oppressive organization that seeks to control every world.
The Director, Chris Weitz and New Line Cinema have removed any direct references to God or The Church from the film so as not to alienate American audiences. The studio is hoping that The Golden Compass film is a big hit so they can produce the next two installments of the trilogy.
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Lyra discovers Mrs. Coulter's intentions and escapes. She bands together with the armored bear Iorek Byrnison (voiced by Ian McKellen) and an air rider Lee Scorseby (Sam Elliott), a band of nomads called the Gyptians and a clan of witches led by Serafina Pekkula (Eva Green) to find the children and set them free.
INTENTIONS OF THE FILMMAKERS
This movie is written by noted atheist and author Phillip Pullman, and is based on the novel "Northern Lights," the first book in the "His Dark Materials" trilogy. The book refers to The Church (which the movie calls The Magesterium) as an evil, oppressive organization that seeks to control every world.
The Director, Chris Weitz and New Line Cinema have removed any direct references to God or The Church from the film so as not to alienate American audiences. The studio is hoping that The Golden Compass film is a big hit so they can produce the next two installments of the trilogy.
THE TONE OF THE FILM
The Golden Compass has been marketed as a big budget fantasy epic for kids, but despite having a young girl as the main character, this is not a film for children.
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Now, I'm all for serious fantasy films that deal with mature subject matter (like The Lord of the Rings), but not one under the guise of being geared toward kids. The Golden Compass is rated PG13 for a reason. The movie contains several violent and scary scenes that may frighten younger children.
The whole world of the film is dank, dark, bleak, and depressing. You can really feel the European influence in the dismal, foreboding countryside. The visual effects are complex and interesting, but nothing you see is beautiful. Almost every person looks pale, dirty, drab and awful. The color of the costumes are muted and the music is somber.
Hardly anyone is truly nice or kind. Nearly every character has a rough edge to them. Even the kids. Smiles are hard to come by. People help each other not out of kindness, but for what they can get from each other.
To put it quite simply, this movie is joyless. There's nary a shred of hope to be found, and as far as a movie-going experience, it's not a lot of fun.
POSITIVE ELEMENTS
I always like to give a fair shake to the filmmakers, cast and crew, so here's what's good about "The Golden Compass."
There is no swearing, sexuality, or nudity.
For a big, sprawling, fantasy film, it's thankfully under 2 hours long.
Lyra has a tremendous amount of courage.
The whole world of the film is dank, dark, bleak, and depressing. You can really feel the European influence in the dismal, foreboding countryside. The visual effects are complex and interesting, but nothing you see is beautiful. Almost every person looks pale, dirty, drab and awful. The color of the costumes are muted and the music is somber.
Hardly anyone is truly nice or kind. Nearly every character has a rough edge to them. Even the kids. Smiles are hard to come by. People help each other not out of kindness, but for what they can get from each other.
To put it quite simply, this movie is joyless. There's nary a shred of hope to be found, and as far as a movie-going experience, it's not a lot of fun.
POSITIVE ELEMENTS
I always like to give a fair shake to the filmmakers, cast and crew, so here's what's good about "The Golden Compass."
There is no swearing, sexuality, or nudity.
For a big, sprawling, fantasy film, it's thankfully under 2 hours long.
Lyra has a tremendous amount of courage.
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The production design is unique and appealing. Everything is designed in the vein of some sort of steampunk 1930's clockwork world, that, while not exactly beautiful, is interesting to look at.
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The whole concept that your soul walks alongside you in animal form is clever. Children's Daemons change depending on their mood or circumstance. Lyra's Daemon can be a ferret, a bird, a cat, a mouse, etc., externalizing the situation. Pretty cool. Adults' Daemons reflect their personality or character. In one scene, Mrs. Coulter hurts her own Daemon, realizes what she's done, and feels remorse.
I thoroughly enjoyed Sam Elliot's character, Lee Scorseby. He's a warm southern prospector-type guy, and he's the only one that doesn't speak every line of dialogue laden with world-weary dread. I also like it that his "daemon" is a jackrabbit (voiced by Kathy Bates), who acts like a nagging wife, constantly giving him grief.
The armored bear fight between Iorek (Ian McKellen) and the ill-gotten king bear Ragnar (Ian McShane) is pretty good. It's fierce and scary (these are bears fighting each other), but involving and intense with a shocking and satisfying ending to the fight.
SPECULATION
The character of Mrs. Coulter seems to obviously refer to the ultra-conservative author and columnist Ann Coulter, a tall, thin, blonde woman who shocks and irritates liberals with her ideology. I'm not necessarily a proponent of Ann Coulter, but she has been referred to by the mainstream media as an "ice queen" or someone with "ice in her veins." In the film, it's interesting how one of Mrs. Coulter's (Nicole Kidman's) lines of dialogue comments on the dinner party she just attended. She tells Lyra, "They never put enough ice in their drinks."
NEGATIVE ELEMENTS
The Magesterium is obviously The Church, just as the novel states (the author gets even more specific about The Catholic Church). They are seen as a dogmatic organization that seeks to control the world and suppress society. Anyone who questions their authority is seen as a "Free Thinker" and a "Heretic."
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Secular and scientific knowledge, especially secret knowledge, is held up as the ideal thing to have.
NEGATIVE ELEMENTS
The Magesterium is obviously The Church, just as the novel states (the author gets even more specific about The Catholic Church). They are seen as a dogmatic organization that seeks to control the world and suppress society. Anyone who questions their authority is seen as a "Free Thinker" and a "Heretic."
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Secular and scientific knowledge, especially secret knowledge, is held up as the ideal thing to have.
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Lyra's courage comes only from a defiant, anti-authority stance. Not even a belief in herself. She also considers being called "a lady" an insult. She, and in retrospect, the entire film, is built solely on being AGAINST something. Not on being FOR anything.
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When Lyra asks what the Magesterium is for, Mrs. Coulter is aghast that Lyra doesn't know. Then she remarks something akin to, "Oh, that's right, you've been living in an Ivory Tower." (Apparantly people of the Church tend to talk down to those who are secular and college-educated because they don't know anything about organized religion.)
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Mrs. Coulter then explains that The Magesterium tells people what to do. Not in a mean way of course, but in a nice, helpful way. (As if that makes it better.)
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Mrs. Coulter then explains that The Magesterium tells people what to do. Not in a mean way of course, but in a nice, helpful way. (As if that makes it better.)
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The Garden of Eden story is referenced when Mrs. Coulter tells Lyra that after "our ancestors" disobeyed "The Authority," then "The Dust" entered the world.
In other words, Adam and Eve ("our ancestors")
disobeyed God ("The Authority"),
and Sin ("The Dust") entered the world.
But in the film, the story is twisted and distorted. The Dust is seen as a mysterious and intriguing substance, a way to open up knowledge and pathways to parallel worlds where people can escape from the authority and control of the Magesterium. (That's why the Magesterium wants to keep people from exploring the nature of The Dust.)
In other words, Adam and Eve ("our ancestors")
disobeyed God ("The Authority"),
and Sin ("The Dust") entered the world.
But in the film, the story is twisted and distorted. The Dust is seen as a mysterious and intriguing substance, a way to open up knowledge and pathways to parallel worlds where people can escape from the authority and control of the Magesterium. (That's why the Magesterium wants to keep people from exploring the nature of The Dust.)
So, indirectly, Adam and Eve's willfull act of disobedience and defiance is exonerated as a good thing! Unbelievable. If only we could get in contact with the enticingly forbidden Dust (Sin), then we could truly shatter The Magesterium's (The Church's) power. And sin is seen as a wonderful, positive substance that liberates us from The Authority (God). Nice.
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The children's souls (again, pronounced "demons") are cute, funny, vulnerable, sweet, and protecting spirit animals. They are specifically created so young children will like them. So let's get this straight: Kids love their demons. A demon is their only true friend. (Shudder.)
A group called The Gobblers (later revealed as part of The Magesterium) kidnap children and perform an operation that severs the connection between children and their Daemons, thus forcing the children to "grow up." This act is shown as incredibly scary, painful and awful, killing the spirit animals and rendering children to become shells of their former selves. This is intended to make children absolutley HATE The Magesterium (in the books, called "The Church").
Witches, whose Dameons have the ability to exist far from their hosts, are shown as good allies who fight for the freedom of the world against the Magesterium. They fight alongside the Gyptians, a ragged group of nomads who belong to no society or country.
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Anticipating the next two films, at the end of The Golden Compass the witch leader Serafina tells Lee Scoresby that a war is coming. Lee says, "I haven't heard any rumors of war." (Sound familiar?) He asks her what the quarrel is about. She responds, "Nothing less than Free Will."
CONCLUSION
Anticipating the next two films, at the end of The Golden Compass the witch leader Serafina tells Lee Scoresby that a war is coming. Lee says, "I haven't heard any rumors of war." (Sound familiar?) He asks her what the quarrel is about. She responds, "Nothing less than Free Will."
CONCLUSION
If this movie was a teacher, and the child who watched it a student, here are the lessons:
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Knowledge, especially secret knowledge is true power.
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Questioning every authority and being defiant are the most admirable traits.
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Dogmatic authority is completely evil. Its only purpose is to suppress inquiry and destroy individuality. In its clutches all that you love and hold dear will be destroyed.
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APPLICATION
It's up to you whether or not to see The Golden Compass. But now that you've educated yourself and know the intentions of the author and filmmakers behind it, you can prepare yourself and your children for the opposing ideas promoted by the film and the books.
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REFERENCES
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See you next time at THE DECODER RING.
1 comment:
Excellent review, great research, good insight. Thanks Steve!
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