by Aubrey Sinclair<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Contributor, The University Times<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For a movie centered around emptiness, \u201cThe Wonder,\u201d based on a novel by Emma Donoghue of the same name, serves up a heaping plate of fabulous storytelling and leaves us with something to chew on. Director Sebasti\u00e1n Lelio opens the film in a slow pan across a modern sound stage before settling on actor Niamh Algar, who invites us to remember that this 2022 Netflix psychological drama we are about to embark on is a work of fiction, but that we should believe in it with all of our hearts as the characters do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The plot deposits us into the Irish Midlands of 1862, a land and people still reeling from the aftermath of The Great Famine. English nurse Lib Wright – masterfully played by Florence Pugh – arrives before a panel of village elders who have hired her and catholic nun Sister Michael to observe Anna, a young girl who allegedly has not eaten in four months and is sustained only by \u201cmanna from Heaven.\u201d The panel insists that the girl may eat at her choosing but may not be force-fed even in the case of mortal danger. The juxtaposition of a nurse and a nun mirrors the oppositional beliefs of the village elders: reason vs. emotion; science vs. spirituality; facts vs. faith. Though these sides seem diametrically opposed, the fact that these men are willing to let a girl die in order to protect their personal beliefs weaves a throughline through the group and reveals the heart of the film: Beliefs can be dangerous. From this point on, \u201cThe Wonder\u201d evolves into a mystery which escalates into unexpected and dangerous territory that threatens to take a young girl\u2019s life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The emptiness present in each of the characters\u2019 stories are emphatically reflected in the broad and barren pastoral landscape of the Irish Midlands, the bare and minimal sets, and even the movie\u2019s score which for much of the film is hauntingly silent. This movie has a stacked cast, and even the smallest roles shine \u2013 but none brighter than Anna played by K\u00edla Lord Cassidy, and Florence Pugh who never fails to deliver an electrifying performance. Don\u2019t miss this wonder-full film before it leaves Netflix.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Aubrey Sinclair Contributor, The University Times For a movie centered around emptiness, \u201cThe Wonder,\u201d based on a novel by Emma Donoghue of the same name, serves up a heaping plate of fabulous storytelling and leaves us with something to chew on. Director Sebasti\u00e1n Lelio opens the film in a slow pan across a modern […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7374],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-culture","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8046"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8046\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8047,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8046\/revisions\/8047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}