Divergent (M)
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Now showing at Lilac City Cinema
Reviewed by BRITTANY MURPHY
IT’S a big, big risk for a director to take on one of the highest-selling book franchises in the young-adult genre.
For the most part Neil Burger did quite well with Divergent (written by fiction young-gun Veronica Roth).
Famed for his work with Limitless and The Illusionist, Burger brings the story to the big screen with real grit.
For those unfamiliar with the text, Divergent is set in a postwar Chicago.
Within this concrete dystopia, society is characterised by an organised faction system with each representing a core human value - Erudite for intelligence, Candor for honesty, Amity for the kind, brave Dauntless and the selfless Abnegation.
Each encompasses those key values with an extreme single-mindedness and those that don’t associate with one core value (determined by a personality test of sorts) are dubbed Divergent, a rare and dangerous condition due to their free-thinking tendencies.
Our leading lady, Beatrice Prior (Shailene Woodley), belongs to Abnegation by birthright yet doesn’t fit in.
She doesn’t want to dedicate her life to being subservient; she wants to be something more, but doesn’t know what.
So, when it comes time to take her test and her results are inconclusive (Divergent alert!) she is left without guidance as to which faction to select – will she stay with her family or leave for something more exciting?
Minor spoiler - she chooses the menacing Dauntless clan, changes her name to Tris and the viewing fun begins.
A great quality of both the book and film is that Roth and Burger don’t mess around. There is no great, long build up to a single climactic event; it just jumps straight into the action over and over again.
Book-fans don’t have much to complain about here. We don’t really miss out on all that much from the original text and the casting is onpoint.
Kate Winslet is a convincing villain in her role as ice-queen Jeanine Matthews, leader of the Erudite faction and general causer-of-problems. Both Woodley and Theo James (as the brooding initiate instructor Four) are compelling in their leading roles.
But, as is with all young adult stories, they tend to draw comparison.
Divergent has gathered a heap of criticism in light of The Hunger Games, but I find that to be irritating – sure, they are both based around a female-heroine and struggle for power but that’s about the bulk of it.
Where Katniss Everdeen is a natural born rebel with a knack for archery and unwavering courage, Tris Prior is entirely average.
She get’s beaten up repeatedly, is unsure of herself and generally just blunders about the place until she gets it right. The beauty of her character lays in her willingness to try. She is completely relatable.
Divergent is openly emotional and a little philosophical, raising questions about humanity and organised society.
There is a focus on the thought-processes behind and after-effects of decision making and a general musing on the balance of human nature – namely, overcoming fear and the power of individual thinking.
Needless to say, I really enjoyed this adaptation. I would be interested, however, to hear what those who haven’t read the original text thought. It’s definitely something that will divide opinion.