Director – Benh Zeitlin – 2021 – US – Cert. 12a – 111m
*****
A bold re-imagining of Peter Pan told through the eyes of Wendy which is unlike any other version of the story you’re likely to see – out in cinemas on Friday, August 13th
Her mother runs a fast and furious restaurant. Wendy (Tommie Lynn Milazzo) crawls along the long tables.
Boys play on trains on the nearby tracks outside.
Her brothers James (Gavin Naquin) and Douglas (Gage Naquin) come out to play on the jukebox, but quickly get thrown out for causing disruption. Through the night the goods trains pass. There’s a spark. Wendy, slightly older now (Devin France) sees something atop a train. A boy. She runs outside to chase the train. Her mother’s voice calls her back in.
The fast trains pass. One day she is on one, riding the rails. The boy (Dwight Henry) is in the freight car. He tells them to stand close to the open boxcar door. The train crosses a bridge over water. He pushes them out. They’re in the water.
Then they’re all in the boat, crossing the ocean to the island, Mother. They land. Beach. Forest. Geysers erupt. A boy on a ledge makes the geysers erupt by shouting. The boy from the train can do it better and shows them, producing an impressive line of geyser eruptions.
Further adventures follow. Standing on a rock overlooking the sea with Peter (the boy) telling her she can fly, she just has to believe. Breaking through the surface of the water in a grotto filled with magical light. Or the time when Peter brandishes a blade to turn James into a blood brother and it all goes horribly wrong.
As in Beasts Of The Southern Wild (Benh Zeitlin, 2012), the visuals speak of the natural world and man-made interventions (here houses, boats, objects) weathered and decayed, nothing is fresh and new, everything is used. Except that that natural word, where Mother who could be an active volcano or a giant fish or possibly both is under threat from a boat crewed by pirates (adults). A piece of flat metal is bent around a section of pipe by an adult drifter and suddenly anyone familiar with the Peter Pan story clocks that this is Hook.
The whole thing has a restless energy and a rare, dreamlike quality. And a gut-wrenching ending where Peter is still a boy but Wendy has grown up and finds herself unable to get back to his world the way she could when she was a child.
Is it suitable for kids? Well, it has scenes of Peter brandishing a threatening-looking blade. On the blood brother incident, you see nothing of the blade’s impact on flesh, merely the end of an arm wrapped in bandages. While you may not see much. Though, you really feel the physical and emotional consequences of the violence. For the cinema, the BBFC have given it a 12a,which allows younger children to see it if accompanied by parents. It might be too much for some eight-year-olds.
The way the story feels and unfolds, you’re completely inside the head of the pre-teen Wendy, a child’s imagination. It’s a much better children’s movie than a thousand manufactured, safe, industry ‘family’ movies. As a grown adult, I found it completely devastating. I personally would have loved to have seen it as an eight year old (though I imagine plenty of parents after seeing the film will disagree with me). Nevertheless, to me, this is a rare delight and absolutely magical.
Wendy is out in cinemas in the UK on Friday, August 13th.
Trailer: