For those in the UK Emma Thompson is being interviewed on The One Show at 7pm this evening.
The Children Act - Emma Thompson - advertised on ITV One - prime time.
by freddo 24 Replies latest jw friends
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StarTrekAngel
I saw the trailer and that is all I needed to see to decide not to watch it.
I was somewhat on the fence until the show the WT lawyer in court pretending to care for the life of this kid.
Total bullshit
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Xanthippe
You've got to remember that Ian McEwan who wrote the book and the screenplay is a well known atheist and he's very anti religion. If it shows the hypocrisy of the cult it's because that's how he sees it.
He is an intelligent writer, he understands that if you write a book just overtly attacking religion it won't go down well in the UK so he mixes it up with a marriage and a look at an interesting profession.
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cofty
Interview with Emma Thompson and Fionn Whitehead...
"I went to a Jehovah's Witnesses meeting and just pretended like I got a leaflet through the door, I was sure I was going to be caught out the whole time. I was sitting there, gripped with terror."
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BluesBrother
It is great that the media are covering this so well. People will at least be. Reminded of the issue by tv. Whatever the film portrays, they will have their own fixed opinions.
Ring it on ,
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Xanthippe
Fun fact, Christopher Hitchens dedicated his book God is not Great to Ian McEwan who wrote the book and screenplay for this film. Gives you an idea of his views on religion.
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Gayle
I just rented the movie "The Children Act." (Direct TV)The movie shows clearly the moral/court dilemma of the JW blood issue with JW teenagers. The Court ruling for "blood" for JW teenagers and how it can cause of self-destruct for the teenager. How the JW teenager has been programed against the blood transfusion. How does the JW kid deal with the control by the Courts without a flood of negativity or the defilement taught by JWisms. Who can they go to sort out this kinds of spiritual/emotional (?) depressions.
This movie is based on a novel which is inspired on a 'true' account. A judge did make a ruling for the blood transfusion for a young JW young man, underage, around 17. He visited the kid and the kid loved football and they talked a lot about that. The judge later after when the boy had the transfusion and was well, took the kid to a big game and introduced all the players. Seven or eight years later the young man, then of legal age, denied the transfusion and died.
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Diogenesister
Ian McEwan's book that the film is based on a is a very good read. The issues are complex. The judge deals in family law, parents fighting over custody of children in divorce cases and so on. It compares her, Emma Thompson's, lack of children to the family who are willing to let their son die for their beliefs. Also his intelligence and musical ability which will all die with him. Good book, looking forward to the film
Good quick summary, xanthippe.
Someone asked, effectively, if it was pro or con the faith. While that's certainly not the books focus, the young man, an extremely bright and gifted young person, is blighted by religious guilt in the end. Since it explores his potential, his tragedy becomes apparent as he learns about the logic and reason behind the laws worldly government's formulate. A world he reviles, yet is doing everything in its power to *save him. So i think it's pretty clear, reading between the lines, the authors opinion.
*whilst endevouring to maintain free will.
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Xanthippe
I saw this film this afternoon. I think it's a brilliant film. Ian McEwan portrays a young man who is indoctrinated by his religious parents who finally glimpses another world. Emma Thompson introduces him to poetry and the idea there's a big world out there, bigger than his tin-pot religion.
It reminded me of Willy Russell's Educating Rita. That scene in the pub after she's been studying Shakespeare and she thinks Lady Macbeth is a cow. Her husband and family are having fun in the pub and she just feels lost. She's glimpsed another world, she doesn't fit in there and she's doesn't fit in with her tutor's friends so when he invites her around for dinner she doesn't go.
This is the problem. You grow up in this religious world, you look down on scientists, academics, literature, everything really. Then you find yourself in the world and at first you feel lost. I think that's what McEwan was trying to show in the film. When people leave a cult they have nowhere to go and they feel totally lost.
I read the book and saw the film and I don't think Adam went back to the religion, I think he refused treatment, effectively took his own life because he felt lost in the real world and couldn't cope with the fact that his parents would have let him die. I think he was depressed and suicidal.
Good book, good film by one of my favourite authors and an atheist who is trying to get the word out about religion and how it damages people.
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cobweb
Haven't seen the film but read the book. I agree that the boy recognizes the religion is nonsense but does not know how to navigate the world. He has a crush on Emma Thompson character because she stood up for him and introduced him to new ideas but ultimately when that relationship can't happen he is lost because she was his only anchor to that new reality. I think you are right - It came across to me too as an act of suicide.
Glad you enjoyed the film. I have been reticent to see it because the reviews haven't been that kind and it is hard to watch a JW movie when they get it wrong.