Thursday, 06 July 2006 14:18
Elizabeth Partridge
! A great crowd gathered in anticipation of the first film to be shown in English at the Cine Sur in La Veronica. Even by that time, a change of programme had been announced with the new Roman Polanski version of Oliver Twist replacing The Exorcist, which in itself proved to be a popular move. However, five minutes into Oliver Twist, the first words were spoken – in Spanish!
The film was stopped and for the next half hour, efforts to show it in English failed. The cinema manager apologized profusely, offered refunds and a free viewing of the film in Spanish plus the promise of the next film free, which was to be the new Harry Potter. The majority of the audience went off to do other things while about twenty stayed to see this new version of an old classic. One wondered what the famous, or infamous, Polanski could do with a story which has been read, performed and produced so many times before, as images of Mark Lester’s Oliver, Oliver Reed’s vicious Sykes and Ron Moody’s sly Fagin spring to mind. The simple answer to that is, as far as characterization is concerned, not a lot. Far from the usual caricatures, Polanski peopled his film with the common man, each with strengths and weaknesses, good and bad. Yet, in doing that, he lost a certain something. Life didn’t seem so hard, no-one appeared that mean and fear wasn’t so apparent, so that overall there was a lack of tension in this telling of the story.Whether the Spanish dubbing played a part in this is hard to say. Here in Spain they have the best school of dubbing in the world and actors have been heard to express preference for their ‘new’ voices! Of course, Antonio Banderas does his own dubbing. As for the stars of this British- French production, Oliver was fairly pathetic. He has all the looks of an endearing orphan yet hardly a moment of suffering crossed that beautiful face. The Artful Dodger was brilliant, performing without the usual arrogance of past players, a real lad doing the best that he could in the life he knew. Hats off to Ben Kingsley for taking on the role and allowing himself to look and sound like every other Fagin!Now, where this film shone was in the sets and in the filming. London’s streets thronged with carriages, stalls, noise and people, with alleyways steeped in mud under persistent rain and not for a moment did you believe you were anywhere but there. Despite misgivings about parts of this production, it is well worth watching for Polanski’s special touch. Disappointing though it was, not to see the film in English, the management of Cine Sur must have been encouraged by the large number who came, once they recovered from their acute embarrassment, and those who want to see films in English have at last found a venue.
Last Updated ( Monday, 09 April 2007 09:18 )
