Movie- Oliver Twist

Yet another remake of Oliver Twist, this 2005 edition by Roman Polanski gets many things right. And while that may be so, there is underlying lack of heart, like Polanski was getting so involved in creating his characters true to the original, he forgot that Oliver is the one we should really care about. Instead the title character seems to be merely a fulcrum for the other characters to balance on, and the other actors to perform their roles.

Now it is hard to get really excited about this work, because Oliver Twist has been made at least 12 times since the movie business began. It has been a silent, a couple of animated, TV mini-series and a musical. So what does this version bring?

Well, Ben Kingsley as Fagin is pretty good. And there is a richness to the settings...you can feel the griminess of London in that era...it was a dirty, stinking place, where people emptied their chamberpots onto the sidewalks from the upper windows, and woe to those who walked below. That is all wonderfully captured.

While Oliver is certainly sympathetic, somehow he comes across as merely being carried by events, not the catalyst to events. Things happen to him, he does not make the events go, and that is a problem of heart. Oliver Twist, like many Dickens characters, is good, but can be plucky and make choices that influence those around him. And you feel here he has little influence.

This is a good movie, and I enjoyed it. But it is not great, for all the care that was taken to create it.