In the past couple of months I have seen at least 20 different movies. I've seen movies such as "Heaven's Fall" and "Flyboys". I watched "The Ron Clark Story" and even children's movies such as "Zoom". Of all those movies, one of the very few that I liked was, surprisingly, "The Golden Compass" which was released this Boxing Day.
Based on the first story of a trilogy by Philip Pullman, "The Golden Compass" is about a young girl by the name of Lyra Belaqua (Dakota Blue Richards), who is the subject of a prophecy concerning the fate of the world. The movie is set in a parallel universe in which humans are accompanied by Daemons, an animal representation of their souls. Mrs. Marisa Coulter (played by Nicole Kidman) explains to Lyra that long ago when the people first disobeyed the 'Authority', a particle called 'dust' was created. As children become adults, 'dust' contaminates them through their Daemon. A sinister religious body called the Magisterium (of which Mrs. Coulter is a strong part) tries to create a population that will never question their authority by a process called intercision. Intercision separates children from their Daemon before they can be contaminated by 'dust', leaving them confused and easily controlled. Meanwhile, children are being snatched up off the street by kidnappers called 'Gobblers', to a facility in a vast ice-land so that they can be separated from their Daemon and a new, compliant generation can be created.
The movie showed some witty examples of human characteristics. One fantastic depiction of childhood and growing up was the Daemons. Young children's Daemons can change shape into any animal they choose. As each child settles, chooses a path and makes their life choices, so will their Daemon. Adult's Daemons settle into one animal shape and do not change. This explains children's indecision and how they are easily impressed.
A scene, in which one of the children escapes from the intercision facility, sheds some light on the whole 'soul' business. The child has been separated from his Daemon
(soul) and is confused, weak and deathly pale. This perfectly depicts the phrase 'to lose your spirit'. When someone is so lost and confused, they have no faith in anything, they may still be alive but they seem to walk around in a stupor, with no direction and no hope, they 'lose their spirit'.
Many recent movies have been dramas, and even romantic ones, that have tried to portray a more realistic scenario by ending on a sad note. They show stories about how bad things happen, not necessarily at the fault of the hero or heroine, and unlike it is often portrayed in fairy tales, it cannot always be fixed. While this is very true in real life, I personally don't find it particularly appealing in a movie. I think we go to the movies for a bit of a break from our lives, for some hope, and even to see someone else's life take a turn for the better, so that we may have faith in the world.
"The Golden Compass" showed all of the things I love in a movie: great actors, fantastic visual effects, amazing scenery, a great story and a good ending.
As one of seven different movies released on Boxing Day, "The Golden Compass" was given the Boxing Day Crown. Other movies released on the 26th include "Alien vs Predator: Requiem", "Enchanted", "Atonement", "PS I Love You", "No Country for Old Men" and "Served the King of England", but it was "The Golden Compass" that came in at the top of them all with over $1,613,225. Rightly so!
Tsoof and Eden love to download full movies from the Internet.
