... makes my mouth water. Even the title sequence is heavenly, when various forms of chocolate production are sensuously filmed; from the delicate chocolate drops to the ongoing waved stream of bourbon filling-like chocolate that starts the salivation that ebbs from the viewers mouth. Except, that last image doesn't sound too pleasant. Hopefully thinking about chocolate will make up for it. I watched this film when I was about 3 or 4 basically on repeat. Its beautiful images of pure imagination has made a lasting impression on my mind, for when I watched it recently again, everything came flooding back. Especially the cheesy but memorable songs, the psychedelic roller-coaster/boat ride, the orange faced Oompa Loompa's with their moralising melodies. I couldn't even forget the cockney school teacher's gaseous experiments,
This film is quite strange as it is set in a Bavarian styled American town. Moreover, the factory is actually filmed in Bavaria - Munich to be exact. This mixture of cultures is an introduction of the surreal nature that is amplified in the rest of the film. Charlie Bucket is a boy who you really feel captures the essence of innocence. When he receives the sacred bar of chocolate - chocolate is a rarity due to his poverty, yet the sweet taste has tingled and therefore remains on his taste buds - he thinks first of sharing it with his four humourously bedridden grandparents and his mother. His virtuous character is quickly highlighted when it is so greatly contrasted by the 4 other winners of the golden ticket (I hope its obvious that Charlie does receive one - no spoilers). The other children are the epitome of childhood sins: as if Roald Dahl is God of the religion of childhood, dictating his version of the cardinal vices to educate children how and how not to behave without being strict and obvious. Aptly named to describe the sin and personality Augustus Gloop, Veruca Salt, Violet Baureguard and Mike Teavee all have eventful and slightly disastrous experiences in the factory. Compared to the 2005 film (Tim Burton and Johnny Depp) there is much more emphasis the ticket frenzy. My favorite 'visual anecdote' is one where a man is pitching a revolutionary machine that uses probability to find out the location of the tickets inside the Wonka bars. The dated computer is absurb but memorably funny.
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| its funnier when you watch the film.... |
Onto Willy Wonka played excellently flamboyant by Gene Wilder (The Producers, Young Frankenstein). He is a very misunderstood man. At first one might imagine a brooding genius who locks himself away, mysteriously conquering the world with his monopolising chocolate brand. However, opinions are quickly changed at the first opening of the factory where his eccentric entrance is amusing. Opinions then get confused when he meanders through his maze of a factory (where the less righteous get lost along the way), you don't know whether he is just cray or wise. In the end you share the joy that charlie feels when Wonka turns out to be a very generous man who can really pull off a purple velvet tailcoat and brown top hat.
This film has amazing inventions, tantalizing food which takes like whatever you imagine it to be. It is the world of pure creation. It's only downfall is that it is 90 minutes long, barely a tv episode nowadays! I want it to go on forever.
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