Review: ‘Mr. Pip’

Great expectations have indeed been piled onto this cinematic adaptation of Lloyd Jones’ award winning novel set against the backdrop of civil war in Bougainville. But readers of the book will not be disappointed by how the text has been translated to the big screen.

Matilda has lived on the island all her life and has had little contact with the outside world. So when Mr. Watts, the white husband of one of the natives, takes over the long-closed schoolhouse and introduces her to Great Expectations, it changes her world and that of all the children in the room too.

Pip, Magwich and Estella offer Matilda an insight into another world, and a respite from the fear and uncertainty brought on by the power struggle over the nation’s copper mines. It is the scenes from Matilda’s imagination that are the most powerful in the film. Never having seen Victorian England, Matilda’s imagining of Pip’s world is both stark and vibrant. Women wear Victorian dresses, but made from colourful Bougainville prints, and Pip himself is a handsome black man.

The contrast between this imagined world and the bleak reality is stark. The dense bush and tangled vines are the same shade of green as the uniforms worn by the armed soldiers who sporadically invade the village, leaving violence and pain in their wake.

And yes, there is violence. Brutal, realistic, horrific violence that forces upon you the harsh reality of civil war. And the aftermath, in which wailing, heart-wrenching grief is expressed, is difficult to bear.

Hugh Laurie gives a fantastically nuanced performance as Mr. Watts, the sole white man left on the island after the rest have fled their lives. His insistence on wearing a white suit – much crumpled – despite the heat and harsh conditions, is so terribly British.

But Xzannjah as Matilda is the real revelation. She has an innocence not usually seen in child actors, perhaps because she is not an actor at all – just a schoolgirl plucked from a classroom in Bougainville.

Adamason has crafted a harrowing yet beautiful film that packs an emotional punch. I defy anyone to leave the cinema with dry eyes.

8.5/10

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