In this futuristic coming-of-age story based on Lois Lowry's science fiction novel, Phillip Noyce's spectacular big screen adaptation tells of Jonas (Brenton Thwaites), a young man raised in a seemingly utopian world in which everyone appears to be happy. This sense of harmony is created by a strictly engineered existence in which the community is deprived of the so-called burden of memories. They have no notion of suffering, hunger, or violence. On the other hand, there's no freedom, no choice and no individuality. Being treated with a regimented daily injection, the humans are genetically designed not to feel emotion or see colour, and the scientifically controlled environment prevents any visual distinctiveness that may stimulate sensation and alter the order of their seemingly utopian world. They live in sameness: identical homes, identical clothes, and an identical family structure.
Jonas enters into training with the current Receiver of Memories, known as The Giver (Jeff Bridges), who isolates Jonas from his friends. Absorbing memories from The Giver, Jonas learns about joy and pleasure, as well as true pain, sadness, war and death in the real world. As the dark-and-deadly truths of the community's secret past are revealed, Jonas realises that the model society in which they all live is actually dystopian; and by depriving the community of memories they will never be conscious of joy, if they haven't experienced suffering.
Together, Jonas and The Giver come to the understanding that the time for change is now, that the community has lost its way and must have its memories returned.
Lowry recalls the genesis of the book that she wrote some 20 years ago. "It was not prompted by any political thought; it was inspired by my father who at that time was very old and his memories were fading. He was living some distance from me and I'd pay him a visit every six weeks. Over time it became more apparent that he was losing memories that to me were so important. I also saw that he was content, as he had forgotten every sad and scary event that he experienced, including his involvement in World War II, and the death of his first child - my sister - at a young age. This made me think about the importance of memory and how one can manipulate it."
Having grown up on military bases around the world, where all the houses were identical and the rules were the same for everyone, was Lowry's source of inspiration in creating the world of sameness in which Jonas and The Giver live.
"While living by a lot of rules and in an orderly environment makes them content, there's also the reality that the more you try to exist in that kind of role, the more you are desperately lacking. Now that I no longer live that way, I can appreciate the diversity and the variety of the neighbourhoods and places where I now live."
The 10 weeks of principal photography were shot on location and studio interiors, in and around Cape Town, where the entire production was mounted.
Responsible for creating the unique setting where all the magic takes place is Production Designer Ed Verreaux, whose accomplished career in designing faraway places - that aren't of this world - includes visual effects in fantasy films such as Contact, Mission to Mars and Jurassic Park 3.
"In the book there's a lot of stuff that's implied, which is wonderful because you can let your imagination run wild. However, it is also a challenge to work on a piece of literature. In trying to create this world we needed to make it feel parallel." Verreaux offers that he referenced the movie Gattaca. "That's a very stylish movie that had a very specific look, building the movie around contemporary architectural structures. We had to build a 'world building' to create an alternate reality," he notes.
It was Verreaux' design task to portray a society that is emotionally suppressed and, at the same time, to find a way to inject emotional energy into the film so that the audience can care about the characters.
"To depict this harmonious world in which everything is identical, we used a lot of plastic and steel material to create a uniform, sanitary and austere-looking world."
Winter, whose vast production experience in visual effects includes the X-Men franchise, says: "In this utopian world without art, music or colour, there's nothing that's off the shelf and everything has to be designed from scratch to send a signal of being set in the future. On a low budget, that becomes very complex when augmented by visual effects like holograms."
Major sets were required to portray story elements, such as the community celebrations in the vast Odeon. The filmmakers scouted locations throughout South Africa where they found sports stadia that could hold up to 100,000 people.
However, due to budget, technical and logistical limitations, the film was shot in Cape Town where stages were built and unique structures that inspired them in their scouting - such as stadium archways - would be created in visual effects.
Verreaux explains: "We had to create a lot of set extension. The visual effects enhance and hook it all together and, in the end, the movie looks like it cost a whole lot more than it did!"
The Giver is fortunately not just a film that showcases spectacular design and awesome visual effects, but ultimately deals with people in search of meaning and finding it through the passion of a young man whose belief changes his world and the lives around him.
It is good to escape into a film like The Giver. It is one of those stories you can lose yourself in totally and surrender to its magic.
The Giver offers first-rate entertainment with food for thought; you leave the cinema with more than you bargained for. The future has never been more certain, or relevant.
Read more about The Giver and other new films opening this weekend at www.writingstudio.co.za.
