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This Anglo-French film of 131 minutes is a detailed portrayal of the life of an orphan, Oliver (Barney Clark) and his relations with the head of a pickpocket gang, Fagin (Ben Kingsley) and a middle class gentleman, Mr. Brownlow (Edward Hardwicke), in Charles Dickens's tale of the same title. The story depicts the ugly side of the "haves" and shares the sympathy on the "have-nots". Some of these aspects are shown under visual and narrative contrast (parallelism) in the film.

Polanski adopts a linear and unrestricted narrative for the story. He spends much of the plot time in describing how relations between Fagin are built over time. Most of the remaining plot time is spent on the evolving relations among the chief members of the pickpocket gang. Story progression is slow but slow cutting in shots of dialogues does deliver detailed captures on the feeling of the characters from their facial expressions.

In terms of filmic aesthetics, the film features (1) several POV (point-of-view) shots from Oliver's perspective, (2) slow pans (not tracking) of camera to direct the audience's visual and diegetic focuses, (3) slow cutting and (4) minimal camera movements. The camera moves (slowly and minimally) only when it is necessary to relocate the characters or subjects back to the central of the frame. These features are repetitive of those from Polanski's "The Pianist" (2002). Costumes and settings are grand and serious. Though there is not much music variety in the film, the theme music brings sense of encouragement. The movie also characterizes symmetrical opening and ending by having a graphic visually mutating into a real shot of scenery in the first shot and the reciprocal at the last, thereby implying a completion of a story. British actor Ben Kingsley (Gandhi in "Gandhi" (Dir: Richard Attenborough, 1982) stages very well. It is a nice film.

註：本評論純屬影評作者個人意見，並不代表本網立場。
Note: This views presented in this review is solely the views of the critic who wrote it and do not represent the stance of our website.

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