This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
Are We There Yet?
Plot Overview
Senior investment banker
Jeffrey Desange (Nikolaj Coaster-Waldau) is the
consummate family man. He lives in the burbs near
Richmond with his trophy wife, raising two daughters ages one and
three. The older at three is dressed for school, a private school
he can readily afford (“Moms and dads, they try real
hard.”) His license plate reads, N1 DAD.
Unfortunately (“sometimes they mess things
up,”) the radio announcer refers to number one dad's
“estranged wife,” which must have happened within the
last three years to rate the plate, maybe one—he still wears
his wedding band but has run through his meds. Then the market
crashes and he kills two of his coworkers and then his wife and
he's thinking about his kids. He spirits them away driving too fast
on a snowed mountain road and swerves off down a steep bank. The
three survive and stumble upon a deserted cabin named
Helvetia. He starts a fire in the fireplace and
prepares to finish what he started, but the girls' guardian angle
intervenes for them … but not for him.
The cabin is named after some ancient Swiss celts and has a
sculpted beast in the yard & a birdbath. It is furnished
but with no TV in the living room. It has an old style refrigerator
in the kitchen and light fixtures throughout, but no electricity,
in fact no electric access to the place. Jeff's (bearded) twin
brother Lucas (also Nikolaj Coaster-Waldau) is a Good Egg and has
spent his inheritance trying to locate his missing brother's girls
and finally succeeds with the help of a bloodhound and a stuffed
toy for the scent. His brother in a dream shows him a landmark
for the old access road next to a train crossing, also marked by a
leaning power pole that evidently wasn't maintained after the road
was abandoned by the original cabin residents not wanting their
solitude disturbed. The girls survived in the cabin for five years,
living on tree fruit, earthworms and bugs, guided by
whatever residual earth magic remained.
It's up to science to rehabilitate
these unsocialized creatures, but science changes over time. The
custody judge will go by the recommendation of Dr. Daryl Dreyfuss (Daniel Kash) who
would be forced to opt for a distant aunt with means rather than
for the preferred, caring uncle living in a tiny apartment, who
draws for a living. However, if he and his rocker
girlfriend Annabel (Jessica Chastain) move into the case study
home (free of charge), he'll go with them. Annabel is a modern girl
of science celebrating the negative result of her home pregnancy
test. Lucas stumbles down the unfamiliar stairs and is like to have
broken his neck, but lucks out on the order of author Rudolph
Von Abele, “It was not true that his neck had been
broken; it had been only severely dislocated. Had it been broken,
he would most likely now be dead” (102). The hospital's
doctors say he'll be up and about in no time. Meanwhile, it
falls to Annabel to care for the two gamines so as not to lose
custody of them for her boyfriend. Ironically, science has
made her a mama figure, a role she did not covet.
So much for current science. Dr. Dreyfuss is pushing its bounds,
though, through hypnotherapy verging into the paranormal.
“There is no rational explanation that supports this
theory,” he says, “but it is only the ability to
embrace the different reality, that makes science expand beyond the
limits of what we know. However, extraordinary claims require
extraordinary proofs.” He needs to visit the cabin. Perhaps
he has bitten off more than he can chew. He is writing this case up
as a common novel. Nothing good will come of that.
The older girl Victoria (Megan
Charpentier) in a trance mentions a “hospital for
sad people.” There was a psychiatric hospital St. Gertrude's Asylum up by Douthat Lake
five miles north of Clifton Forge where the doctor was perusing the
town's records. It was closed down in 1878. Back then what they
called science of mental illness was what we'd call
superstition. Through a series of visions, we see what
happened. Patient Edith Brennan had got hold of a long thick
needle, an abortifacient, stabbed one of the sisters, and
absconded with her newborn. She was pursued by the law to a cliff
from which she jumped with her baby Lily. They became separated in
death, and her ghost has wandered a long time looking for her,
eventually discovering the two girls in the cabin. She's cared for
them from the great beyond, but now facing separation again, she
wants to take them with her. According to the town record keeper,
“A ghost is an emotion bent out of shape, condemned to repeat itself,
time and time again until it rights the wrong that was done”
Ideology
What would be the best situation for the girls? Conventional wisdom favors moderation: not too rich, not too poor, avoid the extremes. (Prov. 30:7) “Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die:”
(Prov.
30:8-9) “Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me
neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:
Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I
be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.” The
life in the cabin is far removed from modern “vanity and
lies.” In the case study house they eat what we would call
regular fare, though it takes some getting used to for the
recovered urchins. Going to live with the rich aunt in the west
would provide them sumptuous fare, but in the environment of a
spinster who does nothing but complain, threaten and criticize.
Annabel is the thankful one who declared, “Thank you, God.
Sweet!” when she saw the negative result of her pregnancy
test. In the “tiny apartment,” barely affordable at
that, when the check didn't clear for the trackers, Lucas blamed it
on the bank though he knew there was no money in the account. Poverty
tempts one to play fast & loose with finances, perhaps even swearing
falsely in God's name, setting not a good example for one's charges.
Production Values
“” (2013) was directed by Andres Muschietti and was written by Andres Muschietti, Barbara Muschietti and Neil Cross. It stars Jessica Chastain, Nikolaj Coaster-Waldau, Megan Charpentier, Isabelle Nelisse, Daniel Kash, Javier Botet and Jane Moffat. The child actors Charpentier and Nélisse were uncommonly good. The rest were up to snuff excelling in a fundamentally B plot. Chastain stole her scenes as a punked-out rocker chick in big mama shoes.
MPA rated it PG–13 for violence and terror, some disturbing images and thematic elements. Music was by Fernando Velazquez, cinematography by Antonio Riestra. The attention given to the woodland backdrop and scientific investigation gives the film a modicum of credibility lacking in many ghost stories. The plot gets wound tight until the relief, keeping us in suspense until the end. The spooks were malformed in the extreme. It was filmed on location in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Runtime is 1 hour 40 minutes.
Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation
This one was better made than most horror flicks, and the actors were better. It well integrated financial fears with night terrors. It excels on many levels while it avoids tripping into R territory. It's a good all round movie in the horror genre.
Movie Ratings
Action factor: Decent action scenes. Suitability for Children: Suitable for children 13+ years with guidance. Special effects: Well done special effects. Video Occasion: Good for Groups. Suspense: Don't watch this movie alone. Overall movie rating: Five stars out of five.
Works Cited
Scripture cited from the King James Version. Pub. 1611, rev. 1769. Software.
Von Abele, Rudolph. The Party. Copyright © 1963 by Rudolph Von Abele. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1963. Print.
bibles.n7nz.org