Professor Cline
English 102
7 December 2010
Movie vs. Book
I would like to start off by saying, that I really enjoyed the movie, The Handmaid’s Tale. Fay Dunaway played the perfect “Serena Joy”, as well as Natasha Richardson as “Offred.” I would have liked to see a different actor play the Commander, other than Robert Duvall, definitely someone sexier. In most instances when someone has to compare a book that they’ve read to the movie, the movie usually is not as good as the book. In this case the movie addressed some unanswered questions that I had after reading the book.
The first scene in the movie shows Kate “Offred”, her husband, and their daughter walking towards the border in the snow, when all of a sudden the military police shoots her husband, they capture Kate, but they don’t capture the little girl. Then it shows the little girl wandering around in the snow, while she calls out for mommy. This beginning in the movie grabbed my attention more than the book did.
The movie also authenticated the character of Aunt Lydia more than the book did, I couldn’t picture Aunt Lydia while reading the book. The movie also did the same for Moira; I don’t remember reading how Moira actually escapes. It was an interesting twist to watch, as Offred and Moira tie Aunt Lydia up in the bathroom, and Offred is never a
suspect.
There are a few things that the movie didn’t show, the first were the white wings that the handmaids wear, also I didn’t get the impression that the Bible was kept locked up. I didn’t see any angels in the movie either. I thought the movie should have shown, the Japanese tourists approaching Offred. The importance of that scene, is to show the audience how much Offred really misses the little pleasures in life ( makeup and nail polish) and to make the point, that you don’t know how much you miss something, until you no longer have it.
I didn’t get the impression, that Nick and Offred were having sex, while reading the book. I didn’t read that Serena Joy is the one who suggests that Offred sleeps with Nick. The book does suggest that there is mutual attraction between Nick and Offred.
I really liked the last few scenes in the movie, particular, the scene where Offred slit’s the Commanders throat. That was unexpected, since there wasn’t any mention of that in the book. Also the scene where Offred is leaving the house with the guards and Nick, and Serena Joy comes running out of her room, yelling to the guards “I didn’t call you!” I loved that, it shows the audience that Nick is helping Offred escape The Republic of Gilead. The last scene of the movie shows Offred walking along a path to her trailer in the mountains, with her dog, and she is pregnant. She tells the audience that she is safe in the mountains and she receives messages from Nick.
I enjoyed both the book and the movie. They both brought missing information that filled each other‘s void, which is great. Since watching the movie, I understand the entire story more.
