CITY OF EMBER

US, 2008, 94 minutes, Colour.
Saoirse Ronan, Harry Treadaway, Bill Murray, Tim Robbins, Martin Landau, Mary Kaye Place, Liz Smith, Toby Jones.
Directed by Gil Kenan.

Where or what is the city of Ember? It is a city from a fantasy novel by Je.oanne Deprau, a city under the earth built to last 200 years to protect survivors from a dying world. The 200 years are now up and the inhabitants of Ember have lost the knowledge of how they are to live on. Ember is running down and collapsing.

This is the stuff of science fantasy and futuristic tales. It seems to be aimed at the younger audience but adults fond of this genre may well enjoy it.

The sets are immediately striking – and the whole city was built on a wharf in Belfast that saw the building of the Titanic (the real one, not James Cameron’s!). There is the town square, the mayor’s palatial offices, dingy houses and half empty shops, a greenhouse for vegetables and the vast pipeworks and the generator which keeps the city going but is breaking down more frequently. There is always something for the eye in the film.

Children are the heroes of City of Ember, two teenagers, one a girl who is a messenger (phones have long disappeared), the other a pipeworks technician. Together, they are able to discover what is happening and solve the mysteries and search for safety and a future. This takes them into vast realms under the city, a river and a waterway and a climb to the surface.

The film-makers have assembled an impressive cast. Saoirse Ronan (from Atonement and Death Defying Acts) is a strong-minded messenger. Harry Treadaway is the technician. And there are quite a few adult stars including Bill Murray doing his thing as a seemingly nice and patriotic mayor, Toby Jones as his fawning assistant, Tim Robbins as an eccentric scientist, father of the hero, and Martin Landau as an ancient worker who is narcoleptic. Add in British Liz Smith, Marianne Jean-Baptiste? and Mackenzie Crook and you have a quality cast list.

There are plenty of themes for those who like to work on the interpretation of this kind of fantasy, themes of light and darkness, themes of authority and freedom, themes of fear and hope as well as forces for good and forces for evil.

Caroline Thompson (Edward Scissorhands) wrote the screenplay. Director Gil Kenan made the fine animated story Monster House and shows again his flair for exciting the imagination.

1.A fantasy for a younger audience? For adults? Futuristic fantasy?

2.The imagination of the film? A crumbling world? Adventure? The musical score?

3.The prologue, Earth and the destruction, the elders meeting, the builders, the box, setting the time for two hundred years, wanting to save the human race?

4.The passing on of the inheritance, the mayors, the sudden death, the loss of continuity, the loss of the box, Ember and its collapsing?

5.Ember and its look, the town square, the streets, homes, the Gathering Hall, the interiors, the greenhouse, the messenger centre, the Harrow home and the inventions, the pipe house, the generator, the corridors, the stores, the caverns, the whole world of ember? The special effects for the monster insects? Fantasy and imagination?

6.Bill Murray as the mayor, his style, speeches, complacency, the anthems and oaths? Assignment Day and the young people getting their jobs? His paternal manner? His assistant? Living in luxury, fat, becoming villainous, the Song Day and his speech? His escape, Luper? The monster devouring him?

7.His assistant, the yes man, fickle? Taking in Lina?

8.Loris Harrow and his story, a good father, Doon, his birthday, the gift, his son’s disappointment in him? At home, his inventions, his voice on the phone message, his past, wanting to escape, fear, wanting to save his son, the investigators and his giving hints for his son to escape? The rock with the message about safety and the New World and his receiving it?

9.Lina, at home, with Poppy, with her grandmother, late for Assignment Day, her friend? The job, exchanging with Doon? Wanting to be a messenger? Running with the messages, going to the green house, her friendship with Clary? Her grandmother and the box, the puzzle? The words and their being in pieces, putting together the jigsaw? The Perspex pieces and the mayor having one? The blackouts, going to live with Mrs Murdo? The message to the mayor, about the food? Her report, Snode and his reaction? Her escape, collaboration with Doon, getting Poppy? The Singing Day? Doon and the search, finding the store, the monster? The box and the information, putting the words together? The box and the attempt to escape?

10.Doon, his relationship with his father, his hopes, wanting to fix the generator, swapping with Lina, his work with Sul, talking with him, exploring, finding Luper, the store rooms, his interest in the box, friendship with Lina, the build-up to the escape? His father helping him to escape? Getting the keys from Sul? The boat, the water, the climb to the world?

11.Sul, a character, his age, just doing his job, falling asleep, the end and his saving the day?

12.Clary, the greenhouse, the vegetables, Lina and her friendship, knowing Linda’s father, the story of his attempted escape? The story that he was drowned? Her helping cover for Lina in the escape?

13.The images of collapse, the blackouts, the generator, the roofs falling in, people hungry – a Doomsday scenario?

14.The Song Day, people in the square, patriotic, the fresh water, their hopes? The mayor’s running away?

15.The climb to Earth, Lina and Poppy, Doon, into the darkness? The boat ride, the dangers? The miracle of the sunrise?

16.A fable about Earth, doom and destruction, the human spirit, moving from darkness to light? Heroics?