NZIFF Review: ‘The Selfish Giant’

If Ken Loach hadn’t already convinced you that life in Northern England can be grim, this film certainly will. But it will also convince you that there are people living in this hardscrabble world who are worthwhile knowing and caring about. Even if they are few and far between.

The Selfish Giant is based only loosely on the Oscar Wilde fairytale it takes its name from. There is no bucolic garden here, just a filthy scrap-yard presided over by the unlikely named Kitten.

The film focuses on the friendship between two thirteen year-old boys, Arbor and Swifty. The pair are mis-matched, yet the affection between them is apparent from the very first scene. Arbor is ADHD and given to fits of uncontrollable rage. Swifty, on the other hand, is a big, slow boy; a gentle giant who is more interested in horses than his friend’s scatterbrained plans to make money.

After being excluded from school for a fight in which Arbor defends Swifty, the boys become even more focused on bringing in some cash. But in their unemployment-rife world, making money means scamming…and Arbor discovers there’s a lot of money to be made in stripping down copper wire and selling it to Kitten. But in search of the payday of their dreams he sets the pair on a collision course with disaster…and his friendship with Swifty seems at risk of being shattered forever.

The young leads are outstanding. Every word (often expletive) that spews from Arbor’s mouth feels entirely authentic. Even the bit players – the mothers, in particular – show their world weariness and depression with every breath they take. And yes, it is depressing. But somehow Barnard manages to infuse enough humour into the piece to keep it from being dour. Or perhaps it’s the irrepressible energy of the two child actors.

The starkness of the junkyard is contrasted nicely with images of the surrounding countryside and horses grazing peacefully in the fields. Yet, over all this, a nuclear power plant looms and overhead powerlines hum throughout the soundtrack, crackling with the electricity that charges the powerful climax.

7.5/10

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