(some spoilers below)
_Harrison Bergeron_ is the film version of Kurt Vonnegut's short story. Set 100 years in the future, it is the story of a young man brimming with intelligence, who unfortunately is born into a society where mediocrity is mandatory. To avoid the problems of envy between human beings, the government forces everyone to wear headbands that interfere with their thought processes, to wear sandbags on their bodies to keep them from being graceful, and to watch TV shows that are completely devoid of anything funny or thought-provoking. Normalcy is the greatest aspiration of most people. But Harrison has more inside of him than anyone knows.
The brevity of the short story led me to be suspicious when I saw that there was a full-length movie made out of it. I figured it could only smack of screenwriter's license, like those animated series made out of animated movies (how are they going to come up with a whole season's worth of plotlines without violating the canon set up by the original movie?).
Fortunately, this is the movie that was living in the story the whole time, like the part of the iceberg that was lurking below the surface. The acting is good; although Sean Astin could do with a few more types of facial expressions, he does a good job as the gifted but iconoclastic kid who has grown up idolizing mediocrity, but suddenly finds himself immersed in the joys of the mind and the love of a woman.
The world sketched by the short story is filled in just the way we knew it had to be (perhaps Vonnegut had a hand in this?). We knew that if there is a law that people must be handicapped by the government so they are like their neighbors, someone had to be in charge--and that someone had to have access to evidence that there was once another way of living. We also knew those people, while intelligent, had to have their own twisted reasons for doing what they do. Lucky us--we get to see all this unfold throughout the movie.
The image I remember most from the story is that of the gorgeous ballerina, suddenly freed from her sandbagged state of mediocrity, dancing with Harrison in a joyous climax before disaster ensues. We don't see the ballerina in the film (though there is an earlier scene when a dancer's sandbags fall off accidentally), but we do get to see Harrison's inevitable end--and it hits us over the head in much the same way. The climactic scenes take place in the TV studio instead, with Harrison showing the world what they have missed in embracing mediocrity.
Dialogue is a cut above your average sci fi drama, and one exchange is too cute not to quote:
Phillipa: Have you been watching the old movies I gave you? Harrison: Yes! They're amazing. Who's that old man in _King Lear_? Phillipa: That's Lear. Harrison: No, the actor... Phillipa: Macauley Culkin. Harrison: Oh, yes.
Yes, it's the obligatory reference to the time period in which the film was produced...but it's handled with wit.
In sum, this is that rare movie that is utterly faithful to, but creatively expansive of, its literary source.
_Harrison Bergeron_ is the film version of Kurt Vonnegut's short story. Set 100 years in the future, it is the story of a young man brimming with intelligence, who unfortunately is born into a society where mediocrity is mandatory. To avoid the problems of envy between human beings, the government forces everyone to wear headbands that interfere with their thought processes, to wear sandbags on their bodies to keep them from being graceful, and to watch TV shows that are completely devoid of anything funny or thought-provoking. Normalcy is the greatest aspiration of most people. But Harrison has more inside of him than anyone knows.
The brevity of the short story led me to be suspicious when I saw that there was a full-length movie made out of it. I figured it could only smack of screenwriter's license, like those animated series made out of animated movies (how are they going to come up with a whole season's worth of plotlines without violating the canon set up by the original movie?).
Fortunately, this is the movie that was living in the story the whole time, like the part of the iceberg that was lurking below the surface. The acting is good; although Sean Astin could do with a few more types of facial expressions, he does a good job as the gifted but iconoclastic kid who has grown up idolizing mediocrity, but suddenly finds himself immersed in the joys of the mind and the love of a woman.
The world sketched by the short story is filled in just the way we knew it had to be (perhaps Vonnegut had a hand in this?). We knew that if there is a law that people must be handicapped by the government so they are like their neighbors, someone had to be in charge--and that someone had to have access to evidence that there was once another way of living. We also knew those people, while intelligent, had to have their own twisted reasons for doing what they do. Lucky us--we get to see all this unfold throughout the movie.
The image I remember most from the story is that of the gorgeous ballerina, suddenly freed from her sandbagged state of mediocrity, dancing with Harrison in a joyous climax before disaster ensues. We don't see the ballerina in the film (though there is an earlier scene when a dancer's sandbags fall off accidentally), but we do get to see Harrison's inevitable end--and it hits us over the head in much the same way. The climactic scenes take place in the TV studio instead, with Harrison showing the world what they have missed in embracing mediocrity.
Dialogue is a cut above your average sci fi drama, and one exchange is too cute not to quote:
Phillipa: Have you been watching the old movies I gave you? Harrison: Yes! They're amazing. Who's that old man in _King Lear_? Phillipa: That's Lear. Harrison: No, the actor... Phillipa: Macauley Culkin. Harrison: Oh, yes.
Yes, it's the obligatory reference to the time period in which the film was produced...but it's handled with wit.
In sum, this is that rare movie that is utterly faithful to, but creatively expansive of, its literary source.