fertilecelluloid Review of Oliver Twist

Oliver Twist (2005)

Sanitized Dickens capsized by weak lead performance

[6/10 · 24 November 2006]

This big budget adaptation of Dickens' famous novel is a technically well made but curiously flat affair. Roman Polanski, who made this movie for his children, has delivered a version of the story that may best be appreciated only by children because it lacks the grit and gristle of the Dickens source novel and the David Lean version, and is totally ho-hum stylistically. The story has no surprises because we already know it so well, but there's a serious lack of energy and star Barney Clarke, who plays Oliver, is extremely weak and meek. Ben Kingsley does a knock-up job with his Fagin and manages to make him sympathetic and fascinating. Polanski and his team built the London on display and certainly spared no expense, but it all looks too clean and art directed, and there is a distinct lack of threat present in the city's supposedly impoverished laneways. Although there are some beautiful emotional passages and strong performances overall, the film is, ultimately, capsized by the feeble lead performance and Polanski's sanitized portrait of London's "mean streets".