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nThe BFG is all about this little girl called Sophie whonresides at an orphanage in London. She likes to stay up late at night reading,norganizing the mail and doing all sorts of things while everybody is soundnasleep. She’s a night owl. On one of these late nights, she sees a giantnwalking through the fog filled streets of her sleepy London town. Realizing he’snbeen seen, the giant snatches Sophie and takes her with him to the “Land of thenGiants”. While at first Sophie is scared, she soon befriends the big friendlyngiant. Together they go on dream catching adventures. Sadly, there are otherngiants who are bullies and want to eat Sophies and all the little boys andngirls in London. Sophie and The BFG must devise a way to stop their cannibal ways.nCan Sophie and her Giant find a way to stop them?
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nWhat took me by surprise where the themes of the film. I hadnno idea that this movie was going to be all about belief, faith and God. Ohnwait could the letters B.F.G. stand for the words belief, faith and God? CouldnI be stretching it? I don’t think so, the films themes are fairly obvious. Thisnmovie is quite similar to the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe books, they addressnissues of faith, they push the idea of believing in a magical, eternal beingnthat’s watching over all of us, taking care of us, wishing goodness upon ournlives. That this magical being is there even though we can’t see him, that allnwe have to do is “feel him” in our hearts. That all we have to do is take thatnmagical leap of faith, blindly believing the notion and that if we do, then henwill be there when we need him the most, when we are in pain, lonely or sad.nThankfully, Sophie is inquisitive. After all her name is Sophie, an allusion tonphilosophy which in itself means the search for knowledge which explains whynSophie likes to ask lots of questions to the giant, like how old he is. Thengiant tells her he’s an eternal, that he’s always existed, the biggest allusionnto God in the entire film, which is why there’s no doubt in my mind the giant in The BFG represents ‘God’.
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nI’ve always found the idea of God a fascinating one. Everynsociety, every culture has their idea of God and to me that’s fascinating onnits own. How no matter what country we are from or what society we grow up in, wenall end up thinking that there’s something bigger than us, something morenpowerful. The idea that there’s an eternal, magical being watching over all ofnus is a comforting one and I understand why a lot of people choose to believenin it. I personally can’t blindly believe in something I’ve never seen. I cannbe open to the idea of it, or the possibility, but I can’t say ‘God’ exists becausenthere’s no way of proving it. Which is why it rubs me the wrong way when thisntype of idea is reinforced, especially in children’s films, as if they’rentrying to incept these notions early in childhood. At one point Sophie jumps of a balcony becausenshe “feels” the giant and “knows” he will be there to rescue her. Of course thengiant appears and saves her, but in real life, it would be another story. Nonmagical giant is going to come out of nowhere and save you, in real life younhave to save yourself. In real life you jump of a balcony, you’ll end up as anbig grease spot on the pavement. The point the movie is trying to make is younhave to take that leap of faith and believe in God. You have to believe he’llnbe there to save you. “I do believe in fairies,nI do, I do” comes to mind for some reason, yet fairies are a fantasy, same asnthis movie. The reason I dissect these themes is not because I’m nitpicking, it’snbecause movies are about us. Same as books or songs, they always have somethingnto say about human nature.
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nBut anyway, theological themes aside, I still managed tonenjoy the film because it can be interpreted in other ways as well. Maybe thatnmagical being watching over Sophie represents an adult, your father, yournmother, or whoever chooses to take care you and guide you through life. I chosento see the film this way. Sophie is an orphan, and The BFG chooses to bringnsome goodness into her life, he felt her loneliness and her need and chose tonbe a friend to her, the father that she never had, a step father of sorts andnthough step fathers and mothers are often times vilified in films and books, anlot of times they can be more of a father and a mother then the biological one.nSo that’s another way to see the film. Ultimately, I think this movie was actuallynrather sweet. Basically, an old man and a little girl find a way to connect, tonbecome friends in spite of generational barriers. They learn to appreciate eachnother past generational gaps. The oldnhave a lot to learn from the old, and vice versa, so that’s another level onnwhich the film works.
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nTechnically speaking, the film is amazing, the specialneffects flawless. The giants look truly gigantic. Spielberg here once againndemonstrates his uncanny ability to work with children. Ruby Barnhill does annamazing job here playing Sophie, she comes off as an intelligent child, whonlikes to read and use her head to come up with solutions for any givennsituation. The problem with the film is that though Spielberg works great withnchildren and has made some wonderful children’s movies like Hook (1991) andnE.T. The Extraterrestrial (1982), I think The BFG is a tough pill for kids tonswallow in terms of pacing; many children will undoubtedly find it “boring”. Inwas watching it in a theater filled with about 10 people and this woman kept tellingnher boyfriend she wanted to leave because she couldn’t understand what wasnhappening on screen. That she was bored and this was a grown woman! She wasnpleading to her boyfriend to leave the theater! They did about half way through.nI guess your enjoyment of this film will depend on your attention span. If itnhas a short fuse, you’ll probably walk. If on the other hand you have patiencenand can take a shorter paced film, you’ll probably stay and enjoy it.
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