Oliver Twist (2007)

Simply A Masterpiece

Perfect cast and a good story

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

I had just finished reading Oliver Twist and this was the first adaptation(apart from the musical) that I had watched. The changes to the series that were not in the book were not to annoying although I think they could have done Bill's death the same as the book. The acting was fine and I really enjoyed Fagin having that Jewish accent as in the book, exactly how I pictured Fagin when reading it. Oliver and Dodger worked well together, the scenery and the feel of a Victorian London was believable and all in all, I did enjoy watching this adaption of Oliver Twist.It will be interesting to see other versions of this novel and use this BBC interpretation as the benchmark.

I got to know the importance of relation with people, seeing this movie. Oliver, the hero of this movie, I thought that he has beautiful heart truly. I angry that Fagin who made a good child like Oliver steal. The criminal put the blame on one of Oliver.In the Orphanage in which Oliver was employed, there are not only a bad child. A woman called Nancy differs from everybody. Nancy protected Oliver in front of everybody. I regard Nancy having protected, for she would not want he to be deeply involve in crime Oliber wrong. I think that Nancy has learned theft since she was child, so she would like you to become like her.In the middle stage, I expect that he is deeply involve in crime, but thanks to her help, he regained him. I thought it important to live obediently. I would live like Oliver to stick to own will to the end.

Her most outstanding merit is what we may call the perfect balance of evil in the film. Fagin is evil in his greed and mischief of goyim world Sykes is evil in his resentment which find its roots in his biography The judge is evil in his prejudices and arrogance. Mr. Brownlow is evil is his socially inherited ignorance of poverty and the very harsh conditions of the poor.All characters are credible in our present day perspective. Coky Giederoyc is sensible, cultured, pityfull, and fair in the treatment of all characters and considers the context, the time, the beliefs of the era. True that she sacrifices some features of the original novel but this is done in benefit of the better understanding of this social novel. A 10 for this extraordinary director!!

In terms of Dickens dramatisations on televisions, this 2007 dramatisation of "Oliver Twist" is not as good as 2005's "Bleak House" or 2008's "Little Dorritt", both of which were outstanding. In terms of adaptations of this complicated book, it has its downsides but is a solid one. My personal favourite version is the 1948 David Lean film, that had gorgeous cinematography, dramatic music, masterly story-telling, an outstanding Alec Guiness despite the admittedly over-sized nose and a genuinely frightening Robert Newton. This adaptation isn't as good as that version or the timeless 1968 musical, but I personally preferred it over the 1982 TV film with George C.Scott and Tim Curry, that had fine acting but hindered by some questionable plot changes and the 2005 Roman Polanski film, which was decent but bloated. The only one I haven't seen yet is the 1997 film with Elijah Wood, by all means I will give it a chance but I have been told it is one of the worst adaptations of the book.Back on target, the period detail is excellent here with realistic looking sets and well tailored costumes. I for one liked the score, the opening sequence is wonderful, but there are also some dramatic, haunting and beautiful parts when it needed to be. The direction is good especially with Nancy's ghost, the scripting was above decent (I didn't notice any soapish qualities about it) and the pace was good. Dickens's book is insightful but complex in characterisation, particularly with Fagin, there are changes here but the storytelling was not that bad I thought. The acting is mostly very good, William Miller gives Oliver a fair amount of innocence while giving him some steel too. Sophie Okenedo is a subtle Nancy, Gregor Fisher is a suitably grotesque Mr Bumble, Edward Fox is a fine Mr Brownlow and Julian Rhind-Tutt is startling as Monks. The best characterisation though was Tom Hardy as Bill Sikes. Sikes is a turbulent, big, burly and violent man and not only did Hardy meet all of these brilliantly, his interpretation was also emotionally complex.However, there were one or two disappointments. I may be the only one who was disappointed in Timothy Spall's Fagin. I have nothing personal against Spall, far from it, he is an exceptional actor, but Fagin is supposed to be in my opinion oily, vile and manipulative. Fagin here was more reminiscent of WormTail but with an accent and he was too passive. Away from the casting, the other flaw was the length, having been timed during the Christmas season the later part of the dramatisation felt rather stretched.Overall, this is a good dramatisation, not outstanding but worth the look. 8/10 Bethany Cox