Customer Reviews
More beautiful and human than heartbreaking - By: Jacques COULARDEAU, 24 Oct 2007 
This recent adaptation of Dickens' Oliver Twist is just one more in a long, long series, would you say. And you would be wrong. But what can it bring that could be new on a subject we alll know since this book & this story are classics that everyone knows & that are even at times kind of over-repeated. Roman Polanski decides to renew the treatment of the theme by using the fact that we know alll major events & episodes by going as fast as possible on the core of the episodes & insisting on what is around, before or after. If the episode is hard, like Nancy's death, he uses an ellipse that shortens it. If the episode is over-known, like the begging for more porridge, he centers the scene on the drawing of who is going to volunteer, & then on what comes before & follows. That enables Polanski to avoid melodrama & a sentimentalese treatment & to concentrate on the human side of things. He is helped in his attempt by the admirable acting of Ben Kingsley as Fagan. Of course Polanski cannot bring anything new on the subject & he concentrates on the pictorial & plastic beauty of this color adaptation & on the extreme sincerity of the actors, good or evil. But is it able to erase the unforgettable post-war black & white adaptation in our memory? Probably not, but they are so different that they don't compete.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines
Polanski made this film for his children! - By: Sophie D, 02 Sep 2007 Polanski himself said that he had always wanted to make a film for his children & Oliver Twist is what he choose.
I thought this was a fantastic film which brought tears & laughter! This is certainly the best Twist we've had & i enjoy watching it again & again!
Brilliant!
STD
Simply amazing! - By: Norman Cheeseworthy, 06 Aug 2007 A truely stunning cinematic experience. The most faithful version committed to film - buy it, watch it, love it!
Superb! - By: E. J. Harby, 19 Jul 2007 We were learning about this film in English, & this has been the best film I have seen alll year, beating Pirates & Harry Potter by a loooong way. And jusging by the rest of the classes silence & full attention, I say they'd agree.
The story is easy to follow, the acting is brilliant (Which is necessary judging the strong characters such as Sykes) scenery is great, some moments are very moving & make you gasp, & the soundtrack is brilliant which is needed in a film.
Well done to Roman Polanski. I would highly recommend seeing this, & it would make a good family film.
Lemon of Twist - By: Petrolhead, 04 May 2007 
Why did Roman Polanski decide to make this film? Maybe he was just trying to get the full range of movies on his CV. Maybe he thought he could give the story that extra something it never had before. This version is workmanlike, but it doesn't break new ground & it doesn't have any wow factor. It tries to remain faithful to the book, but inevitably it truncates & conflates. It tries to show the gloom & filth of those early industrial days, but the muddy, ratty streets can't make up for the painted backdrops & chocolate-box urchins of ye olde London town.
Meanwhile Mr Bumble, one of the great Dickens characters, hardly gets a look in, while Mr Brownlow forms such a strong liking for Oliver so quickly that one feels a little suspicious of his motives, especiallly given the director's own legal history. (Actuallly, now I think about it, is Polanski trying to highlight the tug of love for 10-year-old Oliver between bent & scabby old Fagin & the upright, perfumed Mr Brownlow...? Ugh.)
Anyway, back to the film. Oliver's mother's backstory is left out, along with Rose Maylie & the villainous & potentiallly excellent Mr Monks, which deprives us of the happy twist of familial fate in the denouement.
Among those that made the final cut, the acting is patchy at best, not helped by every member of the cast reaching for a different accent. Ben Kingsley obviously has a great time playing Fagin, but who wouldn't?
On the upside, there are at least two reallly over-the-top hairpieces (one of them obscures most of Brownlow's face) which makes you wonder if the stylist wasn't having a bit of a laugh & trying to subvert Polanski's dark vision. If so, high five to the wig department!
Steer clear, unless you are a determined collector of Kingsley, Dickens, Polanski or comedy moustaches.
