Search This Blog

Friday, October 31, 2014

Divergent (2014)

I think that the people who will like this film best are those who have read the books.  It matters less if you loved them or hated them than that you know what to expect.  The story itself owes a lot to 'The Hunger game' series, in that it is a post apocolyptic world divided into highly structured subgroups that have very specific roles in the society.  If you haven't read the books the movie will seem even more derivative than it does when you have read them.

The movie is enjoyable because the three main characters.  The society is split into five factions based on major character virtues.  The Erudite are the smart ones, the Amity are the peaceful ones, the Candor are the honest to the point of tactless ones, the Dauntless are the brave ones, and the Abnegation are the selfless ones.  Adolescents are tested when they are on the verge of adulthood and given their personality results, but they ultimately get to choose which faction to belong to--but beware, if you are not well suited to your faction of choice, there is no going back.  If you get kicked out, you are "Factionless", which is essentially like being homeless.  Two of the main characters are what is called 'Divergent', which means they do not fit neatly into one of the facitons, and they are seen as particularly dangerous, and Kate Winslet plays the Erudite leader who wants to get rid of them.  the other subplot is that the intelligent ones want to remove the selfless ones from controlling the government, which we have already more or less accomplished in the real wolrd (except it isn't intellect so much as money that controls our government--but it is certainly not selfless people).  Much of this is predicatble, but the acting is compelling and the movie enjoyable in its own way.

No comments:

Post a Comment