FarToGoReaders is the blog of the Far To Go book club. We meet once every six weeks or so. The book to be discussed is chosen on a rotating basis. We tend toward 20th and 21st century western lit. You cannot stop us, you can only hope to contain us.
Monday, October 11, 2010
I'll Never Let SciFi Go
In between hiking at Stonybrook and Watkins Glen this weekend, I went out to see Never Let Me Go - remember that read everyone? It was science fiction that didn't read like science fiction; It was more of an alternate universe scenario. In the story it was somewhere around 1970 that mankind had figured out how to create clones and to dissect them one bit at a time in order to harvest as many of their vital organs as possible before their final anatomical donation did them in. Their healthy organs were used to sustain, improve and extend the lives of other people, the "not clones" who made up the authentic segment of society.
The film was very true to the source material, spurring my companion and I to discuss the story's parallels to slavery and to decry mankind's essential existential agony.
The young actors are all wonderful and really get to the heart of their characters. For instance, I did not remember Tommy being quite so simple, and yet when I watched Andrew Garfield's portrayal of him, I thought, "Well, of course he was slow. Could I really have remembered him any other way?" Keira Knightley is brave in her role as Ruth and, Carey Mulligan as Kathy provides the intelligent and sensitive heart of the movie.
Sometimes when I watch a filmed interpreation of a novel, I don't really find anything new to think on, but as I was watching Never Let Me Go, I found myself contemplating how special Hailsham really was and discovering anew what the headmistress and other powerful women there were really trying to do for their students. When I read the novel, I had not viewed them with the kind of attention their characteristic complexity deserves.
Anyone else seen this movie? Thoughts?
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