Orphaned at an early age, Oliver Twist is forced to live in a workhouse lorded over by the awful Mr. Bumble, who cheats the boys of their meager rations. Desperate yet determined, Oliver makes his escape to the streets of London. Penniless and alone, he is lured into a world of crime by the sinister Fagin, the mastermind of a gang of pint-sized pickpockets. Following their Academy-Award winning film, “The Pianist,” director Roman Polanski and writer Ronal Harwood re-imagine Charles Dickens’ classic story of a young orphan boy who gets involved with a gang of pickpockets in 19th Century London.
Abandoned at an early age, Oliver Twist (Barney Clark) is forced to live in a workhouse lorded over by the awful Mr. Bumble, who cheats the boys of their meager rations. Desperate yet determined, Oliver makes his escape to the streets of London. Penniless and alone, he is lured into a world of crime by the sinister Fagin (Sir Ben Kingsley) – the mastermind of a gang of pint-sized pickpockets. Oliver’s rescue by the kindly Mr. Brownlow is only the beginning of a series of adventures that lead him to the promise of a better life.
Academy Award-winning filmmaker Roman Polanski (“The Pianist”) brings his rich, imaginative cinematic vision to one of literature’s classic stories with OLIVER TWIST, turning Charles Dickens’ timeless adventure about an orphan boy into a thrilling and humorous tale of good fighting evil.
From the wretched environs of a cruel workhouse system to the teeming streets of a newly industrialized London and its twin strata of poverty-ridden desperation and moneyed comfort, Dickens immortalized youthful peril and triumphant survival in his legendary novel.
Along the way he gave us such memorable characters as the street gang leader Fagin, the fleet-footed pickpocket artist the Artful Dodger, the pompous Mr. Bumble, and the notorious criminal Bill Sykes. Now, one of the movies’ great visionaries, behind such pulsing masterworks as Rosemary’s Baby and Chinatown, offers up his version — the first feature adaptation in over 35 years — and the streets of 19th century London come alive in all their vividness, danger and unexpected goodness.
Brought up in a pauper’s Workhouse, orphan Oliver Twist (Barney Clark) and the rest of the boys are starving and cast lots to decide who among them will ask for more gruel. Oliver is chosen. At supper that evening, after the normal allotment, Oliver advances to the Workhouse Master and asks for more.
Branded a troublemaker by the Workhouse beadle Mr. Bumble (Jeremy Swift) and the Board, Oliver is offered as an apprentice to anyone willing to take him. After narrowly escaping being bound to a chimney sweep — a dangerous business where small boys, lowered into chimneys, are routinely smothered — Oliver is apprenticed to the undertaker Mr. Sowerberry (Michael Heath).
After being provoked about his dead mother by Noah Claypole (Chris Overton), another of the undertaker’s boys, Oliver instigates a fight. Unjustly beaten for his offense, Oliver makes his escape and runs away to London. On the outskirts of the city, tired and hungry, Oliver meets the Artful Dodger (Harry Eden) who offers him a place to stay in London. Naive of life in London’s seedy underworld and unaware of their real trade, Oliver is thrown together with a band of boy pickpockets run by the sinister Fagin (Ben Kingsley). He also meets the brutal Bill Sykes (Jamie Foreman), his girlfriend Nancy (Leanne Rowe) and his dog Sykes.
One morning Oliver innocently goes out with the Dodger and Charley Bates (Lewis Chase), another of Fagin’s boys, and witnesses their real business when the Dodger picks the pocket of a gentleman, Mr. Brownlow (Edward Hardwicke). When Brownlow discovers the robbery in progress Oliver is mistaken for the culprit and, after a chase which comes to an end when he is felled by a hefty blow to the head, Oliver is caught and taken to the police.
While being questioned by the stern Magistrate Fang (Alun Armstrong), a witness proves Oliver’s innocence and the kindly Brownlow takes him to his home to recuperate. His accuser becomes his benefactor and Oliver is treated well by Brownlow and his housekeeper Mrs. Bedwin (Frances Cuka).
Meanwhile, Fagin and Bill Sykes are concerned that Oliver will betray them to the authorities and they are determined to track him down and bring him back to Fagin’s lair. Convinced of Oliver’s honesty, Brownlow sends him on an errand to pay a local merchant five pounds and to return some books. But he is abducted by Sykes and Nancy in the street. Brownlow, thinking that Oliver has run away with his money, concludes that Oliver was a thief all along, as suspected by his friend Mr. Grimwig (Paul Brooke).
Back in the den of thieves, Oliver is tricked by Fagin to describe Brownlow’s house and its valuable contents. Sykes and fellow criminal Toby Crackit (Mark Strong) force Oliver to accompany them on an armed robbery at Brownlow’s house. They need a small boy to enter a window and open the front door for the housebreakers. The robbery is foiled when the household is alarmed and in the ensuing confusion, Oliver is shot. Bleeding badly with a bullet in his upper arm, Oliver is carried away by Bill Sykes, who has every intention of throwing him into the river. But it is Sykes who slips and falls into the fast-flowing water.
Toby takes Oliver back to Fagin’s where he is nursed back to health. Bill Sykes struggles back to his place full of fever after his struggle in the river. He tells Fagin that they must get rid of Oliver or their livelihoods will be over. A sympathetic Nancy, fearful for Oliver’s life, makes contact with Brownlow and arranges to meet him beneath London Bridge. But Fagin has Nancy followed and in a fit of rage Bill Sykes kills her.
Nancy’s friend Bet (Ophelia Lovibond) discovers the body and informs the police. The hunt is on for Bill Sykes. Brownlow is concerned for Oliver’s safety, even more so when he discovers that the police have tracked Sykes and Oliver to Toby Crackit’s house in the London slums. As the police move in, Sykes, using Oliver as a shield, scampers over sloping roofs pursued by the police and a hostile crowd. Suddenly, distracted by his dog, the murdering robber slips and accidentally hangs himself.
Some time later, Oliver and Mr. Brownlow visit Fagin in Newgate prison where the thief-maker is rapidly losing his mind. Despite all that has happened, Oliver feels sympathy for the wretched man. Fighting tears, Oliver offers up a silent prayer before he and Brownlow leave on a coach traveling towards a rising sun and the promise of a bright new day.
Oliver Twist (2005)
Directed by: Roman Polanski
Starring: Ben Kingsley, Barney Clark, Lewis Chase, Frances Cuka, Jake Curran, Harry Eden, Frank Finlay, Jamie Foreman, Timothy Bateson, Joseph Tremain
Screenplay by: Ronald Harwood
Production Design by: Allan Starski
Cinematography by: Pawel Edelman
Film Editing by: Hervé de Luze
Costume Design by: Anna B. Sheppard
Set Decoration by: Jille Azis
Art Direction by: Jindrich Kocí, Jirí Matolín
Music by: Rachel Portman
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for disturbing images.
Distributed by: TriStar Pictures
Release Date: September 23, 2005
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