If Roman Polanski proves one thing with this, his 2005 adaptation of Dickens' Oliver Twist, it's that the lasting allure of such a text plus abiding charm of said tale is very much still apparent and that such a story can still be told, years later, in an engaging and exciting manner. It is done so here by one of our more exciting European auteurs from recent years; in addition, the man highlighting that the tale can still be told, and is still rather serviceable as a thriller in these contemporary times of thrills and spills greatly differing to what was perceived as serviceable drama in the days of Dickens. Where easy to sneer, Polanski's retelling of the story is done so with such verve and such energy; a text brought to life with such confidence and desire to do it justice, that it is difficult not to genuinely get excited by it. Additionally, within the film lies a Victorian English world brought to life with such authenticity and burning desire, peppered by a real air of disenchantment and tragedy throughout, that it is difficult not to become so totally involved with the film's protagonist every step of the way.
Life begins as being rather tough for young Oliver Twist, here in this incarnation played by English born child-actor Barney Clark. He is marched across fields and through urbanised areas to an orphanage, that sense of travel and being dragged from one place and over large stretches of land to another prominent. His escort takes him through the entrance gates upon arrival, very little said or indeed communicated between guard and gentleman; the general sense being that this sort of thing is somewhat prominent in its regularity and foreshadows the strong probability that comes with someone of Twist's drifting ilk being able to link up with other kids of this sort. Young Oliver is farmed about at this stage in life; he is on the verge of being shipped out like some kind of animal to a gentleman chimney sweep it is briefly established treats those whom effectively serve him rather badly in the physical beating of his mule, before being reigned back in again by those in charge of selling on the boy via Twist's tearful pleas, encapsulating the bedraggled and uncertain times rife therein his life.
Where Twist will eventually end up is that of London, but he will get there by way of a home doubling up as that of a coffin sales enterprise, the young son of Oliver's age a bit of a brute and going some way to unleashing one of Twist's more unforgiving characteristics when a stray insult aimed at one of the titular character's parents leads to a violent confrontation. In this locale of business and more moral walks of earning a keep, Twist struggles and is backed into a proverbial corner; something in a starker contrast to that of later meetings with a certain Fagin, played deliciously by Sir Ben Kingsley, and his troupe of young ruffians; strays and pick-pockets contributing to his small empire of crime and striving. Twist must escape from this home rather than be turned loose, his ambling to London coming about out of a fleeting, chance encounter with that of the era's equivalent to a signpost. His journey is fraught with the further establishment he is totally out of his depth - the Capital locale itself is granted an aura before even having appeared on screen, when, a middle aged woman whom has briefly taken Oliver in out of pity, exclaims, in a highly distinct manner, after it is revealed to her that Twist is to troop on toward London.
Arriving in London, and being somewhat overwhelmed at the sorts of activity suddenly on show after such vast and open countryside-set sequences, Twist's descent into the city gets leerier and dirtier the more he systematically wades on in following a further chance encounter with another boy nicknamed The Artful Dodger (Eden). This child is one of Fagin's aforementioned cocky cockney hoodlums, and he leads Twist into their realm whilst acting as the bridge into a whole new underworld carefully constructed to a hierarchical beat which eventually leads to confrontation with the rather ferocious Bill Sikes (Foreman). Sikes is a character more inclined towards gangsterism and crimes that with them carry greater risk – the careful and precise outlining of a pistol's dangers and threat so effective, that when a character is later shot and injured the desired transcending onto the audience of perceived pain and anguish is thoroughly completed. Throughout, Twist shares an easier trust with that of Fagin; an early instance in which he spies a secret trove of Fagin's rarefied belongings and more expensive trinkets arriving with it an overbearing sense of understanding.
Polanski's bringing to life of this text, in doing so combining the nastiest and greyest of locales in which to set the story arriving in tow with what is a crisp and really rather sharp execution seeing the content bounce off of the screen in spite of the imagery. Oliver Twist is an exciting and beautifully constructed film, the director spinning the tale out in a consistently involving manner; manoeuvring Twist around the city and involving him in the continuously involving, continuously unpredictable misadventures that he ends up on in a really efficient manner and forcing the film to more often than not closely resemble some of his best work.
Life begins as being rather tough for young Oliver Twist, here in this incarnation played by English born child-actor Barney Clark. He is marched across fields and through urbanised areas to an orphanage, that sense of travel and being dragged from one place and over large stretches of land to another prominent. His escort takes him through the entrance gates upon arrival, very little said or indeed communicated between guard and gentleman; the general sense being that this sort of thing is somewhat prominent in its regularity and foreshadows the strong probability that comes with someone of Twist's drifting ilk being able to link up with other kids of this sort. Young Oliver is farmed about at this stage in life; he is on the verge of being shipped out like some kind of animal to a gentleman chimney sweep it is briefly established treats those whom effectively serve him rather badly in the physical beating of his mule, before being reigned back in again by those in charge of selling on the boy via Twist's tearful pleas, encapsulating the bedraggled and uncertain times rife therein his life.
Where Twist will eventually end up is that of London, but he will get there by way of a home doubling up as that of a coffin sales enterprise, the young son of Oliver's age a bit of a brute and going some way to unleashing one of Twist's more unforgiving characteristics when a stray insult aimed at one of the titular character's parents leads to a violent confrontation. In this locale of business and more moral walks of earning a keep, Twist struggles and is backed into a proverbial corner; something in a starker contrast to that of later meetings with a certain Fagin, played deliciously by Sir Ben Kingsley, and his troupe of young ruffians; strays and pick-pockets contributing to his small empire of crime and striving. Twist must escape from this home rather than be turned loose, his ambling to London coming about out of a fleeting, chance encounter with that of the era's equivalent to a signpost. His journey is fraught with the further establishment he is totally out of his depth - the Capital locale itself is granted an aura before even having appeared on screen, when, a middle aged woman whom has briefly taken Oliver in out of pity, exclaims, in a highly distinct manner, after it is revealed to her that Twist is to troop on toward London.
Arriving in London, and being somewhat overwhelmed at the sorts of activity suddenly on show after such vast and open countryside-set sequences, Twist's descent into the city gets leerier and dirtier the more he systematically wades on in following a further chance encounter with another boy nicknamed The Artful Dodger (Eden). This child is one of Fagin's aforementioned cocky cockney hoodlums, and he leads Twist into their realm whilst acting as the bridge into a whole new underworld carefully constructed to a hierarchical beat which eventually leads to confrontation with the rather ferocious Bill Sikes (Foreman). Sikes is a character more inclined towards gangsterism and crimes that with them carry greater risk – the careful and precise outlining of a pistol's dangers and threat so effective, that when a character is later shot and injured the desired transcending onto the audience of perceived pain and anguish is thoroughly completed. Throughout, Twist shares an easier trust with that of Fagin; an early instance in which he spies a secret trove of Fagin's rarefied belongings and more expensive trinkets arriving with it an overbearing sense of understanding.
Polanski's bringing to life of this text, in doing so combining the nastiest and greyest of locales in which to set the story arriving in tow with what is a crisp and really rather sharp execution seeing the content bounce off of the screen in spite of the imagery. Oliver Twist is an exciting and beautifully constructed film, the director spinning the tale out in a consistently involving manner; manoeuvring Twist around the city and involving him in the continuously involving, continuously unpredictable misadventures that he ends up on in a really efficient manner and forcing the film to more often than not closely resemble some of his best work.