#4 Best of Family Films for 2005.
One of the smartest and hypnotic horror films you’re likely to experience is Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later, about a young man who wakes from a coma to find that he and a handful of others are the only survivors of a virus that has turned a majority of Brits into blood-seeking zombies. What makes 28 Days stand out from the typical horror fare is a svelte script with intriguing and well-developed dramatic interludes in between the frenetic chase sequences and attacks. Because of this, the character’s grave predicament seems believable, their reactions and actions logically sound, and there is an overall touch of humanity that endears you to the main characters cause for survival.
You might be questioning my reasoning for bringing this horror film to light in this review, but I do this to point out this fact: Danny Boyle (who also directed The Beach, Trainspotting and Shallow Grave) creates the same type of believability and touch of humanity in the wonderful film Millions.
Boyle takes a comedic story about a young boy who finds millions of dollars outside of his cardboard hut, and rather than let the acting and film unravel into maudlin, Disney-like comic kitsch, which it easily could have done, he transforms it into a smart and delightfully dramatic, touching, and life-affirming film.
...he transforms it into a smart and delightfully dramatic, touching, and life-affirming film.
As Millions begins, Britain is in the act of switching its currency to the Euro. Daily, shipments of the soon to be defunct currency (Pounds) are being loaded on trains and taken to the incinerator. All you need to know here is: there is a robbery; there is a thief that throws bags full of pounds from a train; and one of the bags happens to fall on top of Damian's (the wonderful Alexander Nathan Etel) cardboard playhouse.
Damian tells his brother Anthony (Lewis Owen McGibbon), who immediately wants to invest the money so that they are rich the rest of their lives. Damian, however, wants to do good deeds with it. And he’s always getting an earful from Anthony for throwing away money to feed or care for the poor.
The conflict between their different goals and personalities is richly layered and it is beneficial to the plot because it accentuates their individual struggles and/or pining.
I think Boyle succeeds here because he doesn’t allow the film to cast judgement on the boys for us. He allows them a maturity that is refreshing; he lets them show off their unique skills and knowledge. After all, this film is about these boys and their remarkable experiences. And these experiences just wouldn’t be remarkable if the boys were anything less. Who would believe them?
...Damian won't have closure, he won’t be whole, until he knows his mother is alright.
But, I want to spend some time on the most endearing aspect of Millions, the character Damian. Damian is a complex character and Alexander Etel plays him masterfully. He makes Damian wear his desires and goodness on his sleeve. And it’s not easy resisting this charm.
Most endearing is his continual visits with the saints. He loves saints. Not only has he memorized their names and the miracles they performed, but he talks to them wherever he may be – in his bedroom, in his clubhouse, at school, etc. These scenes are great fun, mainly because they are filmed in a matter-of-fact manner. Damian isn’t any more surprised by their visit as he would be of his dad or brother walking into his room. It’s natural. And every visit, he inquires if any of them have seen a St. Maureen, his mother. And at these moments, we sense the heart of the character – that Damian won’t have closure, he won’t be whole, until he knows his mother is alright. (This has a beautiful resolution, I assure you.)
Millions is one of those special films that remind you of what is important and good; it is one of those films you want to cling to when you get hit broadside by the craziness of the world and you need your cup of near-empty hope refilled.
* Written by Frank Cottrell Boyce, who wrote Welcome to Sarejevo, Code 46, and 24 Hour Party People.
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