El prodigio

A very interesting watch, for the patient viewer or for any fan of periode pieces, drama, or psychological themed movies. The movie is not fastpaced, but it suits its topic: the wasting away of a child supposed to be able to survive off of God's sustenance only (read: without actually eating food). A miracle indeed, or is there more to it?

The movie is incredibly well scripted and fleshed out. The way the topics are developed throughout the movie are very engaging and original. This is a special movie in the sense that it brings up topics other movies have done before, but never in this novel-like way. Even the unlikely or hard to believe elements aren't that much of a nuissance because it makes for a good story. It is slow, which is one of the reasons I would consider it more arthouse instead of a movie for larger audiences. The slow pace emphasizes how agonizing and painful some of the themes and events are.

The only thing that rubbed me the wrong way is there are a few short parts where the fourth wall is broken. In my opinion, it did not have a clear function and only reduced my ability to really immerse myself. Especially since it is a movie about 19th century Ireland, I would have preferred everything stuck to that. I don't mind fourth wall breaks in general, but here, it just kept me questioning for the first hour what it's purpose was. All of this is set during a period of time in Ireland when the Great famine was a problem. There was no need for a narrator. It was not a comedy. It did not add to the understanding of the plot. Even after finishing the film, I don't understand nor agree with the odd choice.

Other than that, the acting is very good, especially by the main character (Florence Pugh plays the nurse who's supposed to keep watch of the fasting girl). Some characters seem a bit instrumental, e.g. The parents of the fasting girl, though their motives are eluded at, hardly say anything throughout it all. The scenery and camerawork is very much like most aspects of the movie: professionally well done, a pleasure to watch and fitting to the plot.

In short, it has a couple of downsides, but it is very much worth the watch and I imagine the right viewer will be very impressed by "The Wonder".

Wow, people really can make themselves believe anything, can't they?

Florence Pugh gives a characteristically prickly performance as an English nurse who's sent to a small Irish village to observe the phenomena of a girl who has survived for four months without food and report her findings back to the town council. The girl's family and many townsfolk believe it's divine intervention. Others, Pugh's character among them, are skeptical and think they're being hosed. It's a classic confrontation between science and faith, and the movie asks whether it's possible for both to exist at the same time.

I really dug this movie's tone and mood. It plays almost like a horror film at times, and when the secret behind the girl's condition emerges, it certainly is horrible enough.

Grade: A-

It's a well-rehearsed truism to say that the act of observing a thing changes the object of the object being observed. That's just one of the weighty questions at the heart of this meditative historical drama, one that's also concerned with the interaction of science and faith, free will, when or if to stage an intervention with people bent on self-destructive paths, and the sometimes overwhelming power of guilt - both false guilt and that which has more reason.

To call it patient - despite its under 2-hour running time - is an understatement, but it's never dull thanks in large part to the haunting score and soundscape, and Florence Pugh's truly remarkable central performance (she seems to be packing a few of those into her still young career). A strange and potentially alienating device opens the film, drawing attention to its artificiality, but in doing so it highlights that question of observation changing the observed and encouraging us to do what we're told the characters are doing - believing their own stories as we experience them.

There's a thesis to be written here on the film's theological allusions, one I won't attempt to start here. But it has caused me to reflect on my own experience of over twenty years as an ordained Anglican (i.e. Episcopal) priest. I've seen many people do a wide variety of things in that time, things done in the name of their faith, for reasons of guilt or redemption, that are destructive to themselves or those around them. I've even, sadly, met and listened to people who have been forced to experience precisely the horrific thing, the hidden secret of the past on which the plot turns. If it seems too awful to be true, I can assure you it isn't - for all this film's deliberate artifice, it's a deeply truthful one.

Dealing with almost as many fundamental questions as you might care to bring to it, this is a weighty, serious, but still moving film that's carried by Pugh's brilliance and the production's patient tone. You will likely think on it for days.

Religion versus science, superstitiousness versus good sense, this brilliantly photographed and atmospheric movie opens a field even into our own times: rational thinking versus conspiracy nonsense, intelligent sensitivity versus ignorant hypocrisy, truth versus lies. Which of these values is going to conquer?

The plot develops intentionally slow, due to rural 19th century irish country-side, and it asks for some patience to dive into the psychological subtle-ness of the screenplay. Your patience will be rewarded by great camera-work, unconventional soundtrack, and last but not least by Florence Pugh in another convincing and strong performance.

I wouldn't have needed the breaking of the fourth wall in the beginning and the end, but that's just a matter of personal taste.

Strongly recommended for an adult open-minded viewer.

Florence Pugh stars as an English nurse who travels to Ireland in 1860 to watch over an eleven-year-old girl who has not eaten in the four months since her First Holy Communion. She has been hired to either prove or disprove the possibility of a miracle in the Irish village.

Kila Lord Cassidy is the young girl and she more than holds her own while on screen with Ms. Pugh. Most of the film is almost a two person play with a pair of magnificent performances.

The entire cast is superb but the two main players are so good that I was riveted by the unpredictable story.

As a life long but often doubting Catholic, I highly recommend this great movie.