Yes, I've read the book by Lois Lowry. I've read the whole series in fact. I loved it. I was eagerly anticipating this movie, without much hope actually, but I was pleasantly surprised. It's another futuristic dystopian story, but this one was written long before Hunger Games, Divergent and Maze Runner (which I have also read) and it has a slower pace that may be what seems to be keeping movie goers away. This film is more thoughtful and meant to make you think, with the look and feel a bit reminiscent of Logan's Run and other much older movies. The film is mostly in black and white, so "color" in all its forms and meanings can be on full display when encountered.
As usual, many things were changed from the book (not because of length, which is usually the case, because it was a short book to begin with - I read it in just a few hours), but I tend to see books and movies as separate forms of art and can appreciate them separately as well. One of the things I found unique about the book was that the main character is a boy whose love for an infant consumes him - we're used to seeing this from a female character. That is still true in the film version, but someone in Hollywood felt compelled to make the central love story a romantic one, with a girl who was a minor character in the book. I know the reasons behind it, and it worked alright on film, but that kind of thing irks me anyway.
The young, beautiful cast (including a brunette Taylor Swift) is a little wooden overall, but that also seems to fit the stiffness of the society they are in. The older cast members are used effectively with Jeff Bridges and Meryl Streep having some fun and all of their relationships setting up multiple sequel opportunities that seem to have nothing to do with the sequels in book form unfortunately.
Overall, the film asks the same questions as the novel and the same questions as all dystopian fiction: "If we get rid of all the bad, does all the good go with it?", "How do we get rid of all the bad in the world and at what cost?", "What makes us human and life worth living?", "Will we always eventually rebel and return to our animalistic beginnings - is that better?". Here in the Western World, and especially in the U.S., it's clear that we are taught that individuality is best and freedom is fundamental, but elsewhere in the world, this film and others like it would be considered blasphemy or simply incomprehensible.
All of these questions and issues are why I love to read these books and see these movies myself, attempting to see it from every angle. The Giver is much more open ended than most, ending almost exactly the same way the book does, which caused debate for more than a decade until the "sequel" was published. I liked that the film reminded me of that feeling from the book and why I liked the story in the first place. It may be too much to hope for a sequel to this version, since it's all financially based, but I would welcome the "gift".
3.25 out of 5 stars
