OLIVER TWIST (2005) (***1/2)
Why do another version of OLIVER TWIST, some say. Why redo HAMLET on the stage? Different versions of classic tales from varying filmmakers can be interesting and enlightening. You wouldn’t want a new film version of OLIVER TWIST every year, but it has been long enough since the last one that in the right hands it’s warmly welcomed.
For director Roman Polanski, who was an orphan himself, the film was a passionate project that he did for his children. However, this isn’t a watered down version of the harsh tale of Oliver Twist (Barney Clark, THE LAWLESS HEART), the good-hearted orphan who is led astray by the people who are supposed to be looking after him.
The film follows the story pretty faithfully as far as I remember. Oliver comes to live at an orphanage and once he asks for more porridge, he is deemed a troublemaker and sold off to an undertaker, who is forced by his wife to beat the young lad. After which, Oliver sets out on his own for London, where he is found by the young pickpocket the Artful Dodger (Harry Eden, PETR PAN), who takes Oliver to study thievery under the hunched miser Fagin (Ben Kingsley, GANDHI).
