Without a Shadow

After finally finishing the entire series of the excellent Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister, I got around to watching Finding Neverland from my Netflix queue. I really liked it. I wasn't expecting it to be as sad as it was -- so I wasn't expecting to sniffle and snuffle as much as I did. (But it also reminded me that I got all sniffly while watching two other Kate Winslet movies -- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Titanic. Yes, Titanic. I was 18.)

It seems that a lot of movies that take place in the Edwardian era seem to have that haunting enjoy-the-innocence-because-the-Great War-is-coming feel to them. They usually feature soft lighting, period costimes in flowing white lace, edenic gardens or pristine houses, idealism, and the upcoming irony of global disaster known only to the audience. And Finding Neverland was no different.

The story deals with how kids don't lead the happy oblivious lives adults want to think they do, that adult drama and issues like death affect children, too, and that imagination and creativity lets children (as well as adults) laugh, and transcend and help cope with life. There's even a scene with orphans to subtly underscore that point. It takes place in 1903. And for the entire film, I couldn't get it out of my head that in 11 years, the fictional characters would be facing an entirely different set of traumas and heartbreak, this time on a more global scale. Especially since the children in the movie are all boys! (It might be the Anne of Green Gables syndrome. At 11, I was particularly concerned that Gilbert would have to go off and fight for the Empire, even though there was no date set for the earlier Anne books.)

Anyway, I really like the film. It wove together complex issues of death, marriage, divorce, work, and class, from the point of view of both children and disillusioned adults. It illustrated how notions of childhood innocence can be constructed -- and that such notions can often be coping mechanisms for adults or sources of frustration for the kids they're trying to protect. Beneath all the emotional drama was an underlying statement about hope and fun and creativity.