Naturotherapy through the eyes of a child – review of the film “Secret Garden”

In the era of postmodern cinema, full of various remixes, reinterpretations and fictional flips, adaptations that faithfully reflect the content and spirit of the literary original have become rare. The Secret Garden in the vision of Marc Munden fits into this niche, but does not offer viewers anything more than the necessary minimum.

We all lack happiness

1947. Orphaned by her wealthy parents, Mary Lennox (Dixie Egerickx) is forced to leave her home in a sunny Indian village. She is taken in by a relative she has not known before, her ever-absent uncle (Colin Firth). Left to herself, the girl wanders around the vast but neglected estate, adjacent orchards and misty moors. There he discovers a garden surrounded by a high wall. This one – as it turns out – has magical properties.

The novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, published in 1911, was translated into several dozen languages ​​during the author’s lifetime, becoming part of the canon of children’s literature. And at least the setting itselffrom the perspective of the contemporary addressees of this story – from everywhere and from the very first moments of their lives surrounded by various types of flashing screens and other intense stimuli – it may nudge the mouse, the universal values ​​it contains and the lessons derived from it have not lost any relevance. Munden tried to modernize this archaic style a bit, only slightly different from the original; instead of the decline of Victorian England, we observe here the last upsets of colonial domination and the resurgence of Indian statehood. Personal longings and unworked resentments are also reinforced by the still present specter of the recently ended war. The frames filled with saturated colors are interwoven with details reminding about the symbolic and literal remnants of the conflict, whether in the form of an amputated limb appearing in the background, shots in the distance, or the camp beds still lingering in the rooms of Lord Craven’s mansion. The accumulating sorrows build the mood of the melancholy accompanying the entire screening, and in combination with the almost idyllic overtone of the source text, this image seems even gloomy.

Patient, heal yourself

Although we are dealing with a family film, addressed primarily to younger audiences, Munden did not decide to infantilize the message. In Jack Thorne’s script, there was room for children’s games and frolics, but never for complete carelessness. Mary’s perspective, through whose eyes we observe the world around her, is marked by the stigma of loss. The girl prematurely loses her parents (her mother, at first glance, not particularly interested in her anyway), the family home and stability. She is also forced to grow up too early; the clash with brutal reality turns out to be a real challenge for a pampered aristocrat, hidden under a shade.

The whole thing has a didactic dimension, in the tone – in line with the author’s interpretation – of positivist humanism. Although it implies the magical properties of the title garden, it does not seem to be the cause of the internal transformations of the characters, but only a pretext, a litmus test reacting to them. The lonely characters, surrounded by a wall of their own prejudices and fears, have to do a lot of work themselves. A well-fed child must experience hunger for the first time in order to learn empathy and understand the privileges resulting from class conditions. The bereaved lord – abandon the pose of bitter, unshakable rock and allow yourself to fully experience the grief of the loss of his wife, whose substitute manifests itself by hoarding souvenirs left by a beloved woman.

But where is the magic?

It seems that in complete contrast to the title, The Secret Garden as interpreted by Marc Munden does not hold too many secrets. Despite the essentially interesting concept of transferring the story into a non-original historical context, it is a predictable story, an adaptation that is not memorable at all. For the time being, I am only delusional with lush images of lush vegetation, but these also become commonplace quite quickly.

We invite you to watch the movie “Secret Garden” in the Cinema City cinema network all over the country!