Wednesday, September 09, 2009

A Not So Very "Bleak House"

When I talk about my favorite authors of all time, Jane Austen falls off my tongue very easily. So does Louisa May Alcott, Martha Finley, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Charlotte Bronte is another one I enjoy. If you want me to talk about current authors, I will recommend Brock and Bodie Thoene and Karen Kingsbury.


Charles Dickens is no where to be found on that list.


Homeschoolers are supposed to like Dickens.....and Shakespeare. And while I haven't touched "the Bard," I have tried Dickens...several times in fact. I just can't get into his novels. However, I have come to the conclusion that if you want a Dicken's experience, watch a BBC adaptation.
Bleak House was one of Dicken's novels that I tried to read and didn't get super far. I used leaving for Pittsburgh as my excuse for having to return the book to the library =) So, when I came back, I decided to see if I liked the movie.
Let's just say that I did.

Like with all Dicken's stories, Bleak House is a very complex novel, following many different story lines which all inevitably connect. Here you have a woman with a dark secret, two young people who are falling in love in the midst of a major legal battle, a former soldier determined to hide his past, a young woman who thinks she will be torn from the man she loves, and a villain who wants to destroy.

If you watch BBC movies often enough, you will recognize many people in the cast. That is always one of the fun parts with watching BBC. But in Bleak House, you get so wrapped up into the plot that you forget to remember what movies these actors and actresses might have been in before. The movie is like a mysterious suspense story....and amazingly, it isn't all that depressing.

So, if you have eight hours to watch a movie in, watch Bleak House. =) No, I am kidding....it is eight hours long.....but each "episode" is only a half hour. Thus, much more manageable. But I guarantee you that you will watch for a longer period than that.

10 comments:

Bethany said...

Oh, yes! This was a very enjoyable watch. Have you ever watched Nicholas Nickleby? That is another great one. There are two versions, the newer one is very clean, but the older one (BBC I believe) has some problems but follows the book more closely. You should watch one of them and let me know what you think!

Sara said...

Thanks for doing this movie review Ella! I've been wanting to see this one for awhile now. Oh, and thanks for your email-it cheered me up to see your name in my inbox. =)

sarah elaine said...

It looks like an interesting movie-- I couldn't help but notice that the young girl on the front is played by Anna Maxwell Martin-- Bessie Higgins in BBC's production of North and South.


Is it a clean movie for the most part?

Anna Naomi said...

I haven't seen the movies, but I also have a hard time with the books. I just got one (Little Dorrit) from the library yesterday to try again. It's nice to know that I'm not the only homeschooler that doesn't enthuse about Dickens or Shakespeare - at least yet. ;)

Patti said...

As you know, ever since we began homeschooling, I was pretty much indoctrinated with the "homeschoolers MUST read and love Dickens" mindset. Trying to comply with that, I told myself that I DID, in fact, like Dickens, that he was my favorite author (despite the fact that I really didn't like him). What a relief when I finally came to the realization that it really IS okay to not like Dickens. Far too often, we build a box around the things that we as Christian homeschoolers are supposed to do...but there is great freedom when you get out of that box.

I saw on Net Flix that there is a BBC movie of a Dickens' novel, The Old Curiosity Shop. Wonder if it's any good?

Love,
Mom

Jenna said...

I had to read Charles Dickens for school (the name of the book escapes me now) but I remember that it took me forever and I greatly disliked it lol!

Maybe I can watch this movie:)

Thanks for the review,
Jenna

Neesie said...

You should definitely watch Nicholas Nickleby....as Bethany said one of them has a few things in it that aren't the best. The version I saw was BBC and it was questionable. I thought I had covered all of Dickens but I see I missed one! Thanks for the recomendation. :-)

Jasmine Baucham said...

I really enjoyed this one, too, Ella, despite my lack of affection for Dicknes. =) Great review!

Mia said...

I *love* this movie! Although with many mysteries, once you know the ending, its hard to watch over and over again...but our family had a wonderful time watching this BBC version!

Sara said...

I just watched this movie over the weekend with my mom, and we both loved it. I think Guppy definitely beats Mr. Collins with his proposal. =D I really enjoyed all the unique and funny characters in the story.