''The White King'' is a 2016 British
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
-
drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...
film written and directed by
Alex Helfrecht and
Jörg Tittel. It is an adaptation of the novel of the same name written by
György Dragomán and follows Djata (Lorenzo Allchurch) growing up in a dictatorship, without access to the rest of the world, while dealing with persecution against him and his parents by the government. It had its world premiere at the
Edinburgh International Film Festival
The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) is a film festival that runs for two weeks in June each year. Established in 1947, it is the world's oldest continually running film festival. EIFF presents both UK and international films (all ti ...
and its international premiere at the
Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival
Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, or PÖFF ( et, Pimedate Ööde Filmifestival), is an annual film festival held since 1997 in Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia. PÖFF is the only festival in Northern Europe or the Baltic region with a FIA ...
.
Plot
The film follows Djata (Lorenzo Allchurch), a 12-year-old boy growing up in a
dystopia
A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). ...
n territory called Homeland, under a dictatorship and without access to the rest of the world. His father, Peter (
Ross Partridge
Ross Partridge (born February 26, 1968) is an American actor, director, screenwriter and producer.
His most notable work as a director is the 2015 adaptation of the book ''Lamb'', which Partridge wrote, starred in and directed. As an actor, he ...
), tells him of the true nature of Homeland as well as of a treasure guarded by a man named Pickaxe (
Ólafur Darri Ólafsson
Ólafur Darri Ólafsson (born 13 March 1973) is an Icelandic-American actor, producer, and screenwriter. He is known for ''Children'', '' Trapped'', '' The Deep'', ''Lady Dynamite'', and ''The Secret Life of Walter Mitty''.
Early life
Ólafur ...
). Peter is later taken away by two government agents, leading to him and Djata's mother, Hannah (
Agyness Deyn
Agyness Deyn (; born Laura Michelle Hollins; 16 February 1983) is an English model and actress. She is best known for her successful modelling career in the 2000s, and has been called one of the decade's top models. Since her retirement from mod ...
), being labelled traitors by the government and the citizenry.
Djata visits his father's parents who are devoted to the totalitarian government. Once there, his grandfather shows him a gun and orders him to kill a cat. When Djata hesitates, his grandmother presses him to shoot. Later that night his grandfather gives him a medal his father won as a boy for being a great shooter. When Djata returns home his mother gives him a birthday cake but notices Djata is hiding something. When she sees the medal she is angered that he accepted a gift from his grandparents. She yells at him that she won't let his grandparents brainwash him and sends him to his room.
The next day, while Djata is playing with his friends with the football his father gave him, two bullies known as "the twins", Romulus and Remus, drive up to them, force candy on them and take Djata's ball. Later Djata and his mother are standing on a line at the local market, but when they try to buy food they are turned away because they have been blacklisted. Djata is sitting in his hangout when an older boy throws a dead bird with a note through the window. Djata and his friends see the note is an invitation by the bullies to fight to get his ball back. During the fight the next day, Djata manages to get into the bullies' base, but he is caught by the twins who try to intimidate him into saying that the ball is theirs. He refuses, breaks free and escapes with his football.
When Djata returns home, his mother is trying to find a way to find his father. She asks her father-in-law for help but he refuses. Djata and his mother then visit the local General to ask for help. The General sends Djata out of the room so she can discuss "business" with his mother. Djata wanders through the building and finds a female android who plays chess (linking back to the film's opening sequence which included shots of Djata and his father playing chess), but he then hears his mother fighting off advances by the General. They demand to leave, and the General lets them go, but only after telling Djata that he will die like his father. When they get back home Djata's mother tries to find anything and everything she can sell to buy his father's freedom. Djata stops his mother and tells her everything will be okay.
Djata decides to go with his best friend to find the treasure his father told him about. When they find the cave, it's not full of treasure but scattered human skeletons and other rubbish. His friend becomes angry and pushes Djata into the pit. Pickaxe finds him and tells him the government put him there to guard their secrets. Before sending him home, Pickaxe asks Djata what he's willing to sacrifice to find his father; he shows Djata that he has no eyes, and hugs him farewell.
As Djata leaves the forest, his grandfather finds him and in a panic tells him that all he wanted for his father was a better life. He tells Djata he's been trying all this time to find Djata's father, but to no avail. He tells Djata that he and his mother need to escape the country. He returns Djata home to his mother but then collapses and dies from a heart attack.
At the funeral, Djata and his mother are refused seats at the front of the meeting hall. In the middle of the eulogy given by Djata's grandmother, Djata's father is brought in, in chains. His grandmother appears shaken by his appearance. Djata and his mother run to him and embrace him until a guard breaks it up. Djata's mother screams at the guard; Djata's father lunges at the guard and is dragged out. Djata's mother is knocked down and Djata picks up a stick to chase after the guards dragging his father away. Djata knocks a guard down, but he can't catch the guards holding his father who is thrown into a truck which drives away. Djata runs after them while his mother tries to follow on her bicycle. As Djata runs behind the truck, his mother riding behind him, the film ends.
Cast
* Lorenzo Allchurch as Djata
*
Olivia Williams
Olivia Haigh Williams (born 26 July 1968) is a British actress who has appeared in British and American films and television.
After studying drama at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School for two years followed by three years at the Royal Shakesp ...
as Sophia (voice)
*
Ólafur Darri Ólafsson
Ólafur Darri Ólafsson (born 13 March 1973) is an Icelandic-American actor, producer, and screenwriter. He is known for ''Children'', '' Trapped'', '' The Deep'', ''Lady Dynamite'', and ''The Secret Life of Walter Mitty''.
Early life
Ólafur ...
as Pickaxe
*
Jonathan Pryce
Sir Jonathan Pryce (born John Price; 1 June 1947) is a Welsh actor who is known for his performances on stage and in film and television. He has received numerous awards, including two Tony Awards and two Laurence Olivier Awards. In 2021 he wa ...
as Colonel Fitz
*
Fiona Shaw
Fiona Shaw (born Fiona Mary Wilson; 10 July 1958) is an Irish film and theatre actress. She is known for her roles as Petunia Dursley in the ''Harry Potter'' film series (2001–2010), Marnie Stonebrook in the fourth season of the HBO serie ...
as Kathrin Fitz
*
Greta Scacchi
Greta Scacchi, OMRI (; born 18 February 1960) is an Italian-Australian actress. She holds dual Italian and Australian citizenship. She is best known for her roles in the films '' White Mischief'' (1987), '' Presumed Innocent'' (1990), '' The Pla ...
as General Meade
*
Agyness Deyn
Agyness Deyn (; born Laura Michelle Hollins; 16 February 1983) is an English model and actress. She is best known for her successful modelling career in the 2000s, and has been called one of the decade's top models. Since her retirement from mod ...
as Hannah
*
Clare-Hope Ashitey as Gaby
*
Ross Partridge
Ross Partridge (born February 26, 1968) is an American actor, director, screenwriter and producer.
His most notable work as a director is the 2015 adaptation of the book ''Lamb'', which Partridge wrote, starred in and directed. As an actor, he ...
as Peter
*
Derek de Lint
Dick Hein "Derek" de Lint (; born 17 July 1950) is a Dutch film and television actor, known for playing the role of Derek Rayne in '' Poltergeist: The Legacy''.
Life and career
Dick Hein de Lint was born on 17 July 1950 in The Hague in the N ...
as Silver Hair
* Jeffrey Postlethwaite as Romulus Frunza
*
Matthew Postlethwaite
Matthew Postlethwaite (born 25 September 1991 in Whitehaven, England) is a British actor, writer, singer, artist and entrepreneur. He produced, created and starred in the 2020 short film ''The Great Artist''.
His production company, Purpose Co. ...
as Remus Frunza
*
Malachi Hallett as Shabby
Production
''The White King'' was adapted from the 2008 Hungarian novel of the same name, written by György Dragomán.
The film was directed and written by Alex Helfrecht and Jörg Tittel and was shot in Hungary.
Its production started in June 2015 as principal photography began for the film, where it used settings such as a former Soviet air force base. The directors first became aware of the book when Helfrecht was working in London, and became emotionally invested in the book after only a few pages. The directors intentionally portrayed the dystopian setting's nature as beautiful rather than dismal. They also wanted to make a story where the viewer is granted as little information as the protagonist. However, the directors opted to include an animated sequence at the beginning that "tells the story through the language of propaganda, the symbols that will be seen through the film." For this, they sought out the animation studio Spov, which had worked on content in the ''
Call of Duty
''Call of Duty'' is a first-person shooter video game Media franchise, franchise published by Activision. Starting out in 2003, it first focused on games set in World War II. Over time, the series has seen games set in the midst of the Cold W ...
'' and ''
Titanfall
''Titanfall'' is a series of video games that mainly feature first-person shooter games. The series was created by Respawn Entertainment and debuted on Xbox and Microsoft Windows; it has expanded to other consoles and platforms.
Gameplay
In ''T ...
'' video game series.
Release
The film received its world premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2016 on 18 June 2016.
It was also featured at the
Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival
Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, or PÖFF ( et, Pimedate Ööde Filmifestival), is an annual film festival held since 1997 in Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia. PÖFF is the only festival in Northern Europe or the Baltic region with a FIA ...
as part of its "First Features Competition" alongside 13 other films; it was its international debut.
Reception
''The White King'' has received generally positive reception; it holds an average rating on
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
of 71%, based on 21 reviews. It also received a nomination for the "Michael Powell Award for Best British Feature Film" and "The Award for Best Performance in a British Feature Film" at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. Neil Young, writing for ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
,'' felt that the film was intriguing but ended on an unsatisfying note; he however felt that lead actor Lorenzo Allchurch did a quality job, given his inexperience, and that he hopes to see more out of him in the future. Charles Gant of ''Screen Daily'' compared the film to the novel ''
1984
Events
January
* January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888.
* January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...
'', similarly giving Allchurch praise for his performance. Gant felt that while it succeeds at presenting the world in the tone that it wants, it suffers somewhat from a relatively weak narrative due to the novel being a "loose collection of stories. Writer Emma Simmonds called it a "moderately successful dystopian adventure," similarly comparing it to ''1984'' but also ''
The Hunger Games
''The Hunger Games'' is a series of young adult dystopian novels written by American author Suzanne Collins. The first three novels are part of a trilogy following teenage protagonist Katniss Everdeen, and the fourth book is a prequel set ...
'' and ''
The Goonies
''The Goonies'' is a 1985 American adventure comedy film co-produced and directed by Richard Donner from a screenplay by Chris Columbus, based on a story by Steven Spielberg. In the film, kids who live in the "Goon Docks" neighborhood of Astori ...
''. She felt that it may have a good appeal to older teens.
MaryAnn Johanson
Mary Ann or Maryann or Mary Anne may refer to:
People
* Mary Ann Booth (1843–1922), American microscopist
* Mary Ann Cunningham (1841-1930), Canadian temperance activist
* Mary Ann Hanmer Dodd (1813-1878), American poet
* Mary Ann Hilliard (18 ...
of ''Flick Filosopher'', however, commented: "This sad mess of a vaguely sci-fi coming-of-age tale seemingly could not be more plugged into current fears, and yet it feels utterly irrelevant."
The White King movie review: a boy’s-eye view on dystopia - FlickFilosopher.com
/ref>
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:White King, The (film)
2016 films
Films shot in Hungary
Films based on Hungarian novels
2010s English-language films