"The Secret Garden" Review

"The Secret Garden" Review

5/10

1993
An Agnieszka Holland Film
Protagonist(s): Kate Maberly, Heydon Prowse, Andrew Knott
Antagonist(s): Maggie Smith
Run-time: 1 hour 42 minutes

When Mary Lennox (Kate Maberly) is orphaned in India, she is sent to live with her Uncle in England. With permission to do little but wander the grounds, she comes upon a guarded but open secret.

Based on the novel by the same title written by Frances Hodgson Burnett, this film is rather dry and more artistic than entertaining, focusing more on getting the right look and behaviour out of the time period than following the book.

While the general plot is fairly close to the book, there were several liberties taken, of which I do not approve. The most glaring two will follow in the next paragraphs. Read at your own risk.

Glaring liberty number one; the personality of Colin (Heydon Prowse) has been changed from the detached yet demanding child whom everyone obeys whether they agree or not, a child who knows and has known since he was old enough to understand the words that he was not going to live to grow up. In his place is a feeble yet vocal child who might throw a tantrum yet is ignored in favour of the will of the adults around him. Instead of having no interest in going outside where everyone will stare at him, Colin has been made deathly afraid of being killed by the invisible spores hiding outdoors. The methods of treatment for his 'illness' has also been added, as there is no mention of any treatment other than something similar to what Forest Gump wore to brace his limbs.

Glaring liberty number two; magic. The magic described in the book more closely resembles a form of self hypnosis or self help seminar where affirmative statements are chanted as one does in church and negative views are rejected. A placebo effect, if you will. The magic shown in the film more closely resembles something taken from a Shakespear play combined with a Native American fire ritual of some sort. It might be more visually interesting, but not accurate.

In all, I would rate this film as only useful for passing time with background noise rather than watching it for entertainment or a true shortcut representation of the novel for any sort of essay or paper.