The Golden Compass
Inspired by watching “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian,” I finally decided to check out “The Golden Compass,” Chris Weitz’s 2007 film adaptation of the first book of Philip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” trilogy. Having never read the books, and having stayed away from many of the reviews of the much-lambasted film (which nonetheless won last year’s Best Visual Effects Oscar…more later on whether it deserved to), I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the film itself.
Well, two hours later, I’m still not completely sure as to whether I understand it all, but I do know that I got into what I saw…and was intrigued by the originality of Pullman’s vision, such as it was in Weitz’s film (quite a departure for the writer/director of such modern comedies like “American Pie” and the underappreciated “About a Boy”). Unlike C.S. Lewis’ “Narnia” series, where the Pevensie children discover a gateway to an altogether fantasy world, Pullman’s vision is that the “real world,” such as it is, appears to be the parallel world of his fantasy world, which is as real as ours is in other fantasy stories.
In this world lives Lyra Belacqua (Dakota Blue Richards, making her debut), an orphan living with her uncle, the Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig), and going to school at the Jordan College. Lyra’s a smart kid, able to toy with the other kids and tease them with her whip-smart intelligence and charm. But she’s a little too nosy for her own good, as she one day witnesses an attempt by the ruling Magisterial congregation to poison Asriel, whose scientific discoveries look to unhinge their teachings about the world. When the Magisterial gives Asriel funds for an expedition to further his research, as he’s away Lyra is taken by Marisa Coulter (Nicole Kidman), a beautiful and dangerous mouthpiece for the ruling Magisterials, but not before Lyra is given a mystical device known as an Alethiometer, the Golden Compass of the title, which tells the truth of queries posed to it. This makes her dangerous to the establishment, as her uncle is, and Coulter is leading the effort to keep things the way they are.
I could go on, but from there, things get a bit fuzzy in trying to explain them, so it’s best to just let the film do so itself. I will point out, as it’s of utmost importance to understanding the originality in Pullman’s universe, that every human has a daemon, or an animal companion that represents the person’s soul. Children’s can shape-shift into different animals depending on what is required/comes out at the time, but as they grow older, the daemon takes on a more permanent form. Lyra’s is named Pantalaimon (voiced by Freddie Highmore), and is a resourceful little creature on this adventure. It’s this aspect that most intrigues me in Pullman’s creation; the story revolves around separating children from their daemons to make them complacent to the establishment.
“The Golden Compass” is an entertaining fantasy adventure- thrilling in its’ scope and vision and fascinating in its’ ideas. Much has been made of the controversy over Pullman’s swipes at organized religion in his books, which have, for better or worse, been removed from the film (making me immediately interested in reading the books myself to see what the fuss is about), and while some of those jabs still exist in the organization of the Magisterials (obviously modeled after the Catholic leaders of faith), the film feels more like a battle between ideological government and its’ conservative mouthpieces (with Kidman’s Coulter reminding me vividly of right-wing hottie Ann Coulter) against those who question their values and ideals. There’s also a not-so-subtle jab at the ideologues who believe implicitly in “intelligent design” and the scientists who find more complex views of creation in the idea of evolution. All of this makes for an intriguing basis for a fantasy, making it unlike anything we’ve seen in the far-more-popular worlds of Potter, Narnia, and Middle Earth, and worthy of discussion with those universes.
And it’s not an understatement to say Pullman’s universe is just as rich as those. Of course it borrows elements from all of them- with talking animals like the daemons and mighty ice bears (one of which, voiced by Sir Ian McKellen, becomes an important part of Lyra’s story), helpful witches, and mysterious travelers like Sam Elliot’s pilot- but it feels less like an imitator and more like a fully-realized world.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that cinematically-speaking, it’s quite as realized as those other worlds. Weitz makes it come alive onscreen in all the story’s drama and action, and Alexandre Desplat (“The Queen,” “Lust, Caution”) composes a suitably strong score to accentuate it, but visually, the film lacks the luster of what we saw in “Lord of the Rings,” and have started to see (after not-so-strong starts) in the “Narnia” and “Potter” films. Supervised by Michael Fink (who worked previously on “Constantine,” “X2,” and “Braveheart”), the digital creatures like the ice bears and daemons look transparently digital in comparison to similar creations in the above films (“Rings” in particular). That doesn’t mean we don’t come to revel in things like the bear fight, the battles between individual daemons (or even masses of them), and other sights, but it makes for a less-engaging moviegoing experience when you realize how much is done on the computer.
That said, though, there are fantasy films less compelling on the whole than “The Golden Compass.” Its’ unfortunate failure at the American box-office makes the filming of the remainder of Pullman’s trilogy unlikely, meaning viewers like me wanting to explore his universe further will have to read with our imaginations open for where he takes things from here. I look forward to the challenge.
