HOW I LIVE NOW

UK, 2013, 101 minutes, Colour.
Saoirse Ronan, George Mackay, Tom Holland, Harper Bird, Anna Chancellor.
Directed by Kevin Macdonald.

How I Live Now is based on a novel by Meg Rosoff. It is a story about teenagers and is geared to the teenage, young adult niche audience. It is written in this style, the characterisations are designed to get young audiences to identify with the characters and their situations, and it is the same with the language.

The film was directed by Kevin McDonald?, an Oscar-winning director of documentaries, including Touch the Void, Enemies. He also directed a few feature films, most notably, The Last King of Scotland for which Forrest Whitaker won an Academy Award.

For those not in the know before they begin to watch the film, there will be something of a surprise in the portrait of the girl who arrives by plane from the United States to stay with her cousins for the summer. We hear the voices in her head during the credits. She is quite a controller, also obsessive, listening to music and surly with people, her clothes with a touch of the Goth, in need of mending, someone with a haughty manner and very little consideration of others. She finds her cousins off-putting as well. Their house could do with some cleaning. There are three children plus the young lad, George, from next door who seems part of the family, the enigmatic Eddie (George Mackay), 16 years old, Isaac (Tom Holland), 14, who was at the airport and drove an old truck home, and the younger girl, Piper (Harper Bird). The visiting cousin is called Elizabeth but she resents this name and wants everybody to call her daisy. She is played by Saoirse Ronan who has proven herself one of the best young actresses (Atonement, The Way Back, The Lovely Bones, The Host).

Audiences will presume that this is a story of someone who feels alien and gradually becomes part of the family and the countryside. Not quite. Or, rather, not at all.

There have been armed soldiers at the airport. We see trucks and soldiers driving through the city and the countryside. It soon appears that there are possibilities of war, the mother of the children being involved in peace activities, going to Geneva for discussions.

Then there is the huge explosion, nuclear, with the destruction of tens of thousands of people in London. War situations then prevail, lack of power, difficulties with food, terrorists (never identified) who have poison the water systems. The children are taken by the army and sent to different sites where they help collect food and try to survive. But, the plan is to escape.

Much of the film is the journey for Daisy and Piper, making their way through the woods, sometimes hiding, trying to survive, a long walk to return home. There are some frightening experiences for them along the way, a crashed plane, men terrorising some women, their being accosted by two men in the woods, finding a container-centre with the bodies of dead boys and young men, preyed on by scavengers.

But, the physical journey is also a psychological and moral journey for Daisy, coming out of herself and her self-centredness, concerned for Piper though irritated by her, letting go of a lot of the controls that she has clung to, listening to the voices in her head very differently.

Some audiences may be reminded of the Australian film, Tomorrow When the War Began, teenagers in a war situation finding ways to survive. But, this is a more character-focused film.

1. From novel to film? For a younger audience? The writing and its style, characterisations, focus of themes for late teens and young adults?

2. A British story, the experience of war, no such war in Britain but similar war and occupations in other parts of the world, for example the Balkans?

3. The British countryside, the woods, the farms, the houses, the roads, the musical school, the range of popular songs and lyrics?

4. The title, Daisy explaining it at the end? What she went through to live in the present, post-war?

5. The voices over the credits, giving a tone, inside Daisy’s mind, explaining her behaviour? Her wanting control? Obsessive, washing her hands? Disdaining bugs? Not wanting to swim because of what was in the river? Eating habits?

6. The introduction, the plane windows, landing in England, listening to music, silent, at passport control, seeing Isaac, her not wanting to be called Elizabeth but Daisy? Her reaction to England?

7. Her appearance, her clothes, needing mending, the Goth touches? Her manner, lacking personal skills? Going to the parking area, reaction to Isaac and
his humour, carrying her own bag, the truck, his driving? The house, the dogs attacking her, inside the house, dirty, the kitchen sink, room? Abrupt and her going to sleep, her disdain for her father?

8. Isaac, bright, 14-year-old, his jokes, going fishing, swimming?

9. Eddie, the older brother, silent, looking at Daisy and her reaction? Her being intrigued? His seeming to have telepathy skills? Helping Daisy, the cows and the fence, pulling her into the river? The kiss? Love, sexual relationship?

10. Piper, her age, bright young girl, interest in things, trying to bond with Daisy?

11. The aunt, her work, her office, phone calls, the computer and the statistics, deaths from war? Going to Geneva, peace talks? The sympathetic talk with Daisy, explaining about her mother being at the house?

12. The visuals of the troops, at the airport, in the streets, trucks going past, an atmosphere of war? Information about deaths? The possibility of world War three? The aunt and her reassurance? The terrorists, being anonymous for the audience?

13. The shock of the bomb, at the river peacefully? The TV news and information? The recording on radio to stay indoors? The loss of electricity?

14. The suddenness of the attack on the house, the brutality, taking the girls separately, Eddie and his advice to return home? The glimpses out of the truck, some devastation on the streets and roads, the countryside? Going to the new home, Mrs McAvoy?, her husband and his supervising the work? The water poisoned? The meals, Daisy urging Piper to eat? sorting the vegetables, the work? The checkpoint, the terrorist occupation, the desparate leaving and the difficulties with the truck? George, find him, the boy next door, his friendship with the family, part of them? The effect of the internment? Getting out of the truck, defying, his being shot?

15. The plan to escape, stocking up, leaving in the confusion, days wandering through the woods, seeing the site of the flight crash, Piper and the chocolates? Not bringing the water pills? Losing the compass? Piper and her feet? Daisy pressing on, dreams about Eddie, continued hopes, her anger with Piper?

16. The gradual transformation in Daisy, the effect of the attack, the internment, the escape, going through the woods, developing a sense of responsibility, change her personality and manner?

17. The overtones of telepathy, Daisy and her sense of Eddie, Eddie and his gifts? Eddie and his sucking the blood from Daisy’s wound, her returning this at the end? Eddie and his comment on Daisy’s voices? Going to Gateshead, the scavengers, Daisy going in, search for Eddie and Isaac, discovering Isaac’s body? Taking his glasses, burying them?

18. Seeing the women being attacked in the woods, the woman victim, giving the gun to Daisy? The two men and their accosting Piper, Daisy and her shooting the men? The effect on other?

19. Arriving home, the ruins, the baked beans, the dog surviving, the howling, finding Eddie, his condition?

20. Helping Eddie, allowing for a gradual recovery, his working in the garden, not speaking, bleeding, Daisy sucking the blood? The final kiss?

21. Peace restored, electricity coming on, the packages being delivered?

22. The story of Daisy and her being transformed by crisis, war, ready for peace?