The generally dour and discriminating Ian Street (@ianstreet67) gets a little tear in his eye at the thought of seeing The Iron Giant on the big screen…
Leeds Young Film Festival opens tonight heralding an Easter week of fantastic films and events. The festival is always brilliantly curated with films to suit all ages, lots of premiers as well as classics and the programme for this year is no exception.
Of all the films that I’m looking forward to though there is one that looms large over the whole event – The Iron Giant, adapted brilliantly by Brad Bird (of The Incredibles, Ratatouille and The Simpsons fame) from the Ted Hughes novel (The Iron Man). Whenever I mention – ok rave – about this film I’m always amazed at the amount of people who have never seen it. On release in 1999 it did not fare well at the box office but it is now rightly regarded as an animation classic and has garnered bucket loads of awards including BAFTA, Hugo Award, Nubela award nomination, 9 Annie Awards and was rated in a poll in 2010 as the 5th greatest animated film of all time.
So why haven’t people seen it? At the time of it’s ‘failure’ on release Brad Bird criticised Warner Brothers for simply not understanding that they had on their hands a genuinely intelligent animated film and failing to sell it to audiences. Despite me and the kids wearing out the DVD I’ve never actually seen it on the big screen so can’t wait for Sunday at 11 at Hyde Park Picture House. If you love great cinema, brilliant storytelling, fantastic animation, multi-layered intelligent children’s films then you simply must get yourself along to watch it.
Without giving too much away to those who have not seen it, the film tells the story of the friendship between a lonely 11 year old boy (Hogarth) and a giant metal robot that lands on earth. Whilst there are a number of other themes in the film the key to it is the development of the friendship between Hogarth and the Giant. Who after all did not want a giant robot as a friend when they were a kid!
The giant has a childlike quality to him as he attempts to understand the world he’s landed on and the complexities of human relationships. Hogarth tries to explain the world around him: Why would people be scared of a giant robot? Why do we have guns and what do we need them for? Why do we die? What happens to us when we die? What choices should we make? Big themes for anyone to get to grips with and one of the most beautiful themes of the film is that last one, choices. You are who you choose to be. Behind the childlike qualities of the giant there also might lurk danger. Is he all that he appears to be or could he be dangerous? Are people right to be scared of him? There are elements here for those who know the story of Frankenstein, a creation to be feared or someone misunderstood?
Hogarth gets help to hide the Giant from the Town’s “alternative” type, Dean. Dean runs the local scrap yard and is also a sculptor turning the scrap metal into art, something that quite clearly marks him out as an oddball in small town America in the 50’s, as does his love of jazz and no doubt beatnik authors. Dean, Hogarth and the Giant make a great alliance.
The fact that Brad Bird chose to set the film in 1957 was a masterstroke as it enables the film to reflect on the paranoia at the time. Sputnik had been launched, kids were learning to hide under tables in case of nuclear attack, there was the fear of the Red Menace, and this is brought out cleverly in the film. I can’t help but think Brad is asking the question of America – have we moved on at all?
A government agent is sent out to investigate the reported sightings of the Giant and is determined to make his mark so that he can go back to Washington a hero with a promotion to something bigger. As a result he has an agenda which will not let him see the Giant for anything else other than a threat and he hypes the possible danger in every report back to headquarters. How prescient was this as a couple of years after the film’s release real life government agents were exaggerating the threat posed by non existent weapons in the middle east which fed paranoia similar to the Cold War and also triggered an armed reaction.
Mansley (the government agent) tricks the army to attack the Giant; how will he react? This again loops back to the choices we make – you are who you choose to be – and this introduces a part in the film that never ceases to bring a tear to my eye. Tim McCanlies (script writer) said that “At a certain point, there are deciding moments when we pick who we want to be and that plays out for the rest of your life”. Films can provide viewers with a sense of right and wrong, and he expressed a wish that the film would “make us feel like we’re all part of humanity which is something we need to feel”.
That is how the film makes me feel. It’s brilliant. Go and see it