Movie Review- Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein'

 Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein"

Directer- Kenneth Branagh

Screenplay- Steph Lady, Frank Darabont

Producer- Francis Ford Coppola

Staring- Robert De Niro

                   Keneth Branagh

                                 Helena Bonham Carter

          Genre- Horror, Science Fiction

Theatrical release poster

   "In the last 20, 30 years, [Frankenstein has] been claimed by a whole generation of academics and scholars as a seminal piece of literature of that time. [It's] something which now, post-Freud, they feel reveals so many observations about family life, incest, father-and-son relationships, and husband and wife relationships. [Frankenstein] speaks loudly to people, partly because it's so elusive. There's no definitive interpretation of it - it's certainly more than just a monster story." - Kenneth Branagh, director of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

 This movie is a genuinely chilling and faithful adaptation of  Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus. It is a lot more than just a horror movie.  There are lots of issues and questions that are pretty much fundamental to human existence and that's why it's been retold. It's unusual in a movie today to be able to describe the whole sense of scale that the book has and that is great about a tale like Mary Shelley's Frankenstein because they have a size that they're not used to employing with contemporary stories.

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein focuses on this fascinating and thought-provoking theme. In Kenneth Branagh's instinctive and energetic screen interpretation of this classic story, Victor Frankenstein is a driven scientist obsessed with conquering death. After his mother dies giving birth to his brother, he creates a living being out of spare parts.

Before long, however, the monster, played by Robert De Niro, is abandoned by Frankenstein and forced to retreat into the wilderness. He yearns to share the emotions of a peasant family he watches in an isolated cottage but is unable to do so. When this ugly creature meets his creator, he asks, "You gave me these emotions but you didn't tell me how to use them." The monster's feeling function is wounded and so is Frankenstein's. Mirroring each other, they both turn to violence.

It is the Creature who captures our imagination. Since the day he has been abandoned by his creator, he has become more aware and vengeful. Compared to James Whale's Frankenstein's (1931)monster, who is nothing like the monster in this movie. Frankenstein's Monster is a lot better developed here.  The soul of the Creature in the instance, the sweetness and the passionate revengeful side of the Creature were played very movingly. You understand his drive a little bit better and Robert De Nero was able to convey that quite very well.

If we talk about the female character Elizabeth who is more than a cousin sister to Victor. Helena Bonham Carter as Elizabeth has not that much of a role except the resurrection following her murder at the hands of the Creature, but ends with killing herself out of self-loathing.

Mary Shelley leaves so much open to the imagination that it is up to the interpreter to bring put their scenario like, 

• Why Victor was not able to accept his dream experiment and its results?

Victor's dream experiment was to conquer death, to do that he decides to create a life. After he successfully created the Creature it came out to be very creepy and hideous. In Victor's mind, it was a monster so later on, he abandoned his dream experiment.

"Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust? God, in pity, made man beautiful and alluring, after his own image; but my form is a filthy type of yours, more horrid even from the very resemblance".

• What made Creature a Monster?

The monster is constructed out of human parts, he is disfigured, "unnaturally hideous," and deemed society's "chief object of horror".He is instantly labelled as an evil and destructive creature, overshadowing any sort of goodness he may possess. The monster is shocked that his sole purpose was to bring glory to Frankenstein, but now his creator considers him to be a regretful mistake. Like being abandoned by a parent, he is filled with rage and dejection after hearing how his creator wishes to have nothing to do with him. . When he developed his senses, seeking revenge on his creator, he started killing.

• Why society has rejected Victor's idea of experiment and then the result of his experiment?

Victor was trying to make life, but people believes that only God can do that and mere humans have no right to do God's job. 

• Search for life.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was written with the theme of the desire for knowledge at the heart of the book. Many of the characters in the book are searching for knowledge, whether it is the knowledge of how to break the cycle of life, the ability to read and understand, or even knowing what is at the North Pole. Robert Walton is one of the characters that fall victim to this thirst for knowledge. Robert Walton’s search for knowledge in Frankenstein leads him to not only discover the perils that come from his hunt for knowledge but also learn a lesson about his own limits.

• The villain in Frankenstein. 

At first glance, the monster in Frankenstein is a symbol of evil, whose only desire is to ruin lives. He has been called "A creature that wreaks havoc by destroying innocent lives often without remorse. He can be viewed as the antagonist, the element Victor must overcome to restore balance and tranquillity to the world." But after the novel is looked at on different levels, one becomes aware that the creature wasn't responsible for his actions, and was just a victim of circumstance. The real villain of Frankenstein isn't the creature, but rather his creator, Victor.

 When Victor created the creature, he didn't take responsibility for it. He abandoned it and left it to fend for itself. It is unfair to bring something into the world, and then not teach it how to survive. The creature was miserable and just wanted a friend or someone to talk to.