Shyanne WangIt’s the awards season again. Now, with the Oscar® nominees announced and the world watching and speculating who takes the win, The UrbanWire takes a look at 3 book titles set in the 1930’s to the 1940’s that made it to the silver screens and are up for this years Oscars®.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button trailer
At first glance the printed version of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button does not seem capable of stretching into a 2-hour long movie; the 32-paged short story is over in a synch.
But under the mastery of F. Scott Fitzgerald who is better known for his classic The Great Gatsby, the 32-pages are spilling over with intricate details and topped with a large helping of bizarre, bound to spellbind readers seeking shall we say, something different.
The tale is of a baby or rather man who is born old and as he “grows”, he becomes younger. The story follows Benjamin Button’s reverse aging process till he eventually remembers nothing as his life ends as an infant.
Few alterations have been made in the process of converting the book into a movie; most significant being the way Benjamin meets his wife, who is Daisy in the movie and Hildegarde Moncrief in the book. In the movie, Brad Pitt plays the role of Benjamin Button and Cate Blanchett, his wife Daisy.
Oscar award nominee for:
- Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role – Brad Pitt
- Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role – Taraji P. Henson
- Achievement in Cinematography
- Achievement in Costume Design
- Achievement in Directing
- Achievement in Film Directing
- Achievement in Make-up
- Achievement in Music Writing for Motion Picture (Original Score)
- Best Motion Picture of the Year
- Achievement in Sound Mixing
- Achievement in Visual Effects
- Adapted Screenplay
You will enjoy this if: You bear an inclination towards the bizarre, somewhat morbid areas of the human imagination; and if you enjoyed Roald Dahl’s Tales of Unexpected.
The Curious Case of Benajamin Button will be released on 5 Feb in Singapore.
The Reader
The much-documented Holocaust strikes again as it sets the background for the movie, The Reader. The film is based on the novel ‘Der Vorleser‘ by Bernhard Schlink was later translated into English by Carol Brown Janeway and now exists in 37 different languages around the world.
No myriads stuck in a gas chamber as sombre music fades upwards and screams are heard, instead the story is told through the eyes of a woman with somewhat paedophiliac tendencies.
The sordid affair begins when Hanna Schmitz a 36-year-old tram conductor brings Michael Berg an ill 15-year-old home one-day upon finding him faint in her tram. From there they consummate an affair for months revolving around bathing and reading. The dynamics of the relationship between the much older woman and the young boy change as the story develops, with her in dominance at the beginning of their relationship and the subsequent transfer of power to him.
Along the way lovers are separated by war and finally meet again under extraordinary circumstances, which result in the revealing of Hanna’s true identity as a concentration camp prison guard. Michael then already a man is the lawyer prosecuting Hanna in a war trial. The story wraps up in true to war tragic form as Hanna commits suicide in prison when Michael fails to show up.
The movie adaptation of The Reader sees Hanna played by Kate Winslet and Michael (the man) by Ralph Fiennes. There are close to no changes in the storyline through adaptation, simply more emphasis played on characters that were more wallflowers in the novel.
Oscar award nominee for:
- Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role – Kate Winslet
- Achievement in Cinematography
- Best Motion Picture of the Year
- Adapted Screenplay
You will enjoy this if: You have strong attraction to all that is of the Holocaust and yet seek a different view on things other than the screams and harrowing music.
The Reader will be released on 5 February 2009
Defiance
The greatest credit to Defiance: The Bielski Partisans lies in the author, Nechama Tec who is reknown for recording the atrocities of the Holocaust. The Stamford University professor won the Anne Frank Special Recognition Award for the book.
The book cannot be known as a novel as it is a non-fictional publication, which within its 300 odd pages manages to capture the bitter essence of the Holocaust in the minority groups. This perhaps is simply because it was a true pain experienced not too long ago.
The story dictates the quest of the partisans and their families–hungry, exposed to the harsh winter weather, always on the lookout for German patrols–managed not only to survive, but to offer protection to all Jewish fugitives who could find their way to them.
The group’s commander, Tuvia Bielski is the main protagonist in the tale which begins from his journey as the son of the only Jewish peasant family in an isolated rural village to his emergence as a leader of the people. The story unravels Bielski’s struggle as a partisan who lost his parents, wife, and two brothers to the Nazis, and highlights his unwavering determination to save the Jews
The book elaborates on how the partisans smuggled Jews out of heavily guarded ghettos, scouted the roads for fugitives, and led retaliatory raids against Belorussian peasants who allied with the Nazis against them.
The book also boosts at its crowning glory the never before published interviews with surviving partisans–including Tuvia Bielski himself two weeks before his death in 1987.The book is a heavy read both literally and emotionally and even the most sturdy bookworms would have cause to pause and contemplate the pains of war.
Daniel Craig most known for this role as the new Bond plays the lead role as Tuvia Bielski alongside Liev Schreiber, Jamie Bell and George MacKay as the other Bielski brothers. The movie adaptation also places an extended interest in Tuvia’s love life as do all movies taking a little away from the emphasis of the struggle of the partisans.
You will enjoy this if: You’ve always wanted to see what the Nazi occupation would look like on guerrilla mode.
Defiance will be released on 5 February 2009
Stand a chance to win free tickets to Defiance.
Real deal or Reel deal?
The problem with words is that they leave much to be desired and expectations soar far above what film can bring to the screen. The above books spring to life with each passing page, all noted for their contribution to the literary world and some for the extraordinary depth they give into life during that period.
Some may choose to pick up the books before the movie, and others the other way round.
Either way, The UrbanWire recommends that you don’t miss either version of these 3 mind-blowing period pieces.