23rd December, 2007

PHIL SMITH

The Golden Compass (PG)

I’m sure they didn’t, but if the makers of The Golden Compass had chosen a text from which to preach it would have been John 8: 32 - “...and the truth will set you free.”

After a film that featured lavish, seamless effects, mostly good acting, excellent scenery and strong (if predictable) plot, what remained after the credits rolled was a sense of irony.

THE WOW FACTOR: Armoured polar bears do nothing to advance the plot, says Phil Smith, but provide the 'wow factor' in spades. Seen here with Dakota Blue Richards (as Lyra). "Pullman is an atheist and viewers would be naïve to try to view the film as anything other than an allegory. 'The Golden Compass' is not a film for those unwilling to debate their faith or take on board another’s critical view of their belief."

Yes, The Golden Compass is the film adaptation of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials. No, it doesn’t mention the Christian Church at all. However, as Devin Gordon wrote in The Bulletin magazine: “It hasn’t been scrubbed of religion. No one over four feet tall could mistake the Magisterium for anything but an oppressive theocracy.”

Pullman is an atheist and viewers would be naïve to try to view the film as anything other than an allegory. The Golden Compass is not a film for those unwilling to debate their faith or take on board another’s critical view of their belief.

The Magisterium rules the world with an iron grip and a monopoly on ‘truth’. Any challenge to its authority is damned as heresy and quashed. Fra Pavel, played by Simon McBurney, lacks only a Spanish accent to bring us the Inquisition. Daniel Craig’s character, Lord Asreil, draws as much from Indiana Jones as James Bond. He sets off toward the Arctic to expose the Magisterium, fighting off assassins along the way and quickly disappearing from the story.

His young niece, Lyra, is played by Dakota Blue Richards, in who’s keeping is the one remaining golden compass: a device that points out truth to the one who knows how to use it.

The Magisterium wants Lyra and the device and will stop at nothing. Their self-conflicted agent, the lovely and lethal Mrs Coulter, is played well by Nicole Kidman. However, the handling of spiritual matters becomes most blurry within her character, and the devices needed to advance the story.

As in science fiction, a fantasy story such as The Golden Compass needs to establish its own rules, and stick to them.

On the film’s parallel earth, everyone is born with a unique soul - a ‘daemon’ in the language of the film. Life in this realm gradually robs that soul of its purity and freshness. The Magisterium wants to separate children from their daemons/souls. In pursuit of Lord Asreil and Lyra’s golden compass, Mrs Coulter is in conflict with what remains of her own soul. The gifted Lyra cannot quite see the truth and so we come to a most unsatisfactory Star Wars moment.

Literally from nowhere, witches appear. Who or what these creatures are goes completely unexplained, but they’re useful for the inevitable final battle scene.

So too are the characters that ‘make’ the movie: the armoured bears. The huge polar bears, with appropriate booming voices, and dressed in armour made of ‘sky iron’, make the film larger than life. They do nothing to advance the plot but they provide the 'wow factor' in spades.

Even the armoured bears cannot save viewers from a very cynical and disappointing ending. Lord Asreil has not been found, Mrs Coulter and the Magisterium are still in hot pursuit as Lyra and her friends sail into the sunset aboard their skyship.

Beyond the sunset must be chapter two - see you next December.

Essentially, The Golden Compass is a quest film with the heroes on a search for truth. Yet in a story with the premise that there is no place for religion in that search, it draws a lot from the great faith story. It’s easy to see how it’s been marketed at Christmas time.

The religious power elite and a group of genuine seekers are awaiting the arrival of the special child, who will have the ability to discern truth and unravel life’s mystery for everyone.

Some fear the coming of the child and others wait with longing. The same can be said of the inevitable sequel, really.

'The Golden Compass' is released in Australia on 26th December.