The Virginia Film Festival

10 am, Regal 4
Director: Andrew Adamson
Writers: Ann Peacock, Andrew Adamson, Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely
Cinematographer: Donald McAlpine
Cast: William Moseley, Tilda Swinton, James McAvoy, Georgie Henley, Liam Neeson
Running Time: 223 min

Author and scholar C. S. Lewis was a contemporary and friend of J.R.R. Tolkien at Oxford. Tolkein is best known today for his Ring trilogy, recently made into a series of Academy Award-winning films. Whereas Tolkein based his novels on a fantasy land largely of his own making, Lewis poulated his Narnia series with human children, mythical creatures, and Christian allegory. This 2005 film version of The Chronicles of Narnia, directed by Andrew Adamson (Shrek, Shrek 2) gloriously renders both earthly and spirtual delights from the series’ first book.

With the Nazis bombing London, the four Pevensie children are sent to live in Professor Kirke’s country home where they will be safe. They are left to do little but quietly bicker there until Lucy discovers an old wardrobe that serves as a gateway into the magical, wintry land of Narnia. Soon she and her older siblings are thrust into a conflict that spans far beyond the boundaries of a closet. Narnia has been flash-frozen by the White Witch’s evil spell and its fantastic inhabitants are waiting for the light to return under the command of a lion named Aslan.

The White Witch (maliciously and deliciously played by Tilda Swinton) is quickly aware of the children’s arrival and she is anxious to prevent a prophecy concerning the “sons of Adam and daughters of Eve”Â? from coming true. The ensuing battle between good and evil fulfills the expectations of all time and ages, with Adamson fashioning a fine balance of whimsy, intensity and awe. Although the movie’s Christian context generated a fair amount of controversy upon its release, conservative columnist Cal Thomas may have hit the mark: “Perhaps not since the 1981 best picture Chariots of Fire has there been a film that so subtly and wonderfully appeals to the spirit and lets the audience decide if it wishes to go further.”Â?

The audience is free to decide while relishing the splendid scenery, shot mainly in New Zealand (as was the Lord of the Rings‘ trilogy by filmmaker Peter Jackson). C.S. Lewis wrote that Narnia originated from a collection of mental images; he resisted efforts to film the stories because he feared the animals would “turn into buffoonery or nightmare.” Lewis’s stepson/co-producer Douglas Gresham only consented to the film adaption after previewing the computer-generated technology and assuring himself that the visual effects would be a fitting tribute to those original visions.