Unit 3 review of the Scarlet letter

This post is over 1,000 words long, so be prepared to read for a few minutes. =)

Setting of the scarlet letter
I am doing my film review on “The Scarlet Letter.” This film was directed by Roland Joffe and based a novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Released on October 13, 1995, the scarlet Letter received 9 nominations and won the Razzie Award for the worst remake/sequel in 1996. This film takes place in 1966 inside of a Massachusetts Bay colony where the Puritans are settling in order to escape persecution from the Church of England.

Plot
The story revolves around Hester Prynne who has a child with someone besides her husband. In the puritan colony she is looked down upon for being a feminist, and as punishment for this act she is forced to wear an emblem with a large scarlet A (A stands for adulteress). She chooses to not release the father’s name, as he would be hung. The father (you find out who he is early in the film) is disgusted with himself for not taking the blame alongside Hester. Throughout the story Hester tries to live with herself, even though most people despise her. Eventually Hester’s husband returns from the grave, which puts her and her secret lover in a very dangerous situation.

Actors
Demi Moore did a horrible job at portraying Hester Prynne. All of her lines seemed to be forced throughout this film. An hour and fifteen minutes into the movie, Hester is on the scaffold and the reverend pleads her to share her fellow sinner’s name, this is meant to be one of the most dramatic scenes in the movie, but Demi Moore showed no emotion what so ever. If it weren’t for the fake tears I wouldn’t have been able to tell her character was supposed to be upset. Her character didn’t seem to go through any transformation throughout the film, if I saw a scene from the beginning where she was supposed to be defiant and a scene from the end where she was submissive, I would find it difficult to tell which was which.

Gary Oldman plays his part as Reverend Dimmesdale well. He seems to connect with his role as a reverend that has lost his way. An hour into the movie he shows a great amount of emotion knowing that Hester is suffering alone for the travesty against god they both committed. Gary’s character goes through a transformation when he finds out Hester is pregnant; he goes from love struck messenger of god to a sorrowful sinner who is struggling to live with himself.

Presentation
This film was bland as far as presentation goes. There were only two different areas that are worth mentioning, the settlement in Massachusetts Bay where the English lived, and the forest filled with Indians. The latter of the two was actually quite beautiful; it had a nice waterfall in the background, trees as far as the eye could see, and even a few animals running around. The town where the puritans lived however was poorly chosen. It looked as if a Wal-Mart could have occupied that land a few weeks ago. There were few stunts to be seen until the end of the movie, unless you count riding horses or catching sticks as stunts. All in all the film was not presented well at all.

What happened during this time period?
In the 16th century, the London Company made the first permanent English settlement in America. The settlement was named Jamestown, after their king, King James I. There were many difficulties for this first establishment, many died from Indian attacks and diseases. Between 1628 and 1629 Massachusetts Bay was being colonized. Hundreds of English puritans who wished to escape from the persecution of the Church of England fled to Massachusetts. Also, in the 16th century; men and women were persuaded to come to the new world as servants. These people served whoever bought them until they paid off their debt, once it was paid off they were free citizens who were able to maintain their own land.

Throughout the 18th century, France and Britain fought in a succession of wars. Although Britain was at an advantage because of its sugar rich islands of the Caribbean, the battles were generally indecisive. France had control of the Mississippi River, which prevented Britain from continuing their Westward expansion. Once Britain had finally taken care of the French, the British decided to try and enforce a government. While trying to agree on certain aspects of the governing system, there were many disagreements which lead to the end of the colonial period sometime between the end of the French-Indian war, and 1776.

Comparison
The movie did a good job at capturing the tension between the Puritans and Algonquian, but I don’t recall reading about the Algonquians attacking the Massachusetts Bay settlement because a woman with a love child was about to be hung. In other words, its background was fairly legitimate but there was a fake story inside of it. There was no mention of important settlers in the movie, but the film did show how indentured servants as well as slaves were used to work on farms and were generally the bottom of the barrel in this timeframe.

What have I learned?
Between the film and the notes I have read for this unit I have learned a few thing. First off, before reading the recommended information on the colonial period I had no idea that Jamestown was the first Permanent settlement that the English had made in America. From the film I learned the difference between slaves and indentured servants, before this I thought there was no difference between the two. Slaves had no rights and didn’t have a date that they would be set free. Indentured servants on the other hand would eventually acquire their own land once they had served their masters for a set amount of time. Finally, I learned that The British and the Indians were on somewhat friendly terms for awhile, even trading on several occasions.

All in all I would give this film two out of five Stars.