HOLES

US, 2003, 117 minutes, Colour.
Shia La Boeuf, Sigourney Weaver, Jon Voight, Tim Blake Nelson, Patricia Arquette, Dule Hill, Henry Winkler, Nate Davis,
Directed by Andrew Davis

What might one anticipate from a film with a title like Holes? Actually, there are many literal holes in the film. A pleasant young student becomes the victim of a false arrest and is sent to a juvenile detention camp in the desert where the inmates are made to dig holes all day every day. This is the whim of the warden (a curmudgeonly Sigourney Weaver aided by an eccentric Tim Blake Nelson and a really oddball Jon Voight). The young man puts his fate down to a family curse from Latvia (uttered by Eartha Kitt) and visited on all the men of the family, including his eccentric inventor father, Henry Winkler, who is actually doing the human race a service by trying to invent a formula to render shoes odourless.

There are historical holes as well: flashbacks to the time when the desert was a lake and a nice schoolteacher (Patricia Arquette) grieves over the lynching of a young man (Dule Hill) and becomes a famous bank robber whose loot is allegedly buried under the sand.

This is certainly an unusual story with touches of the fairy tale, touches of the American west and a grim picture of the realism in the hard life at the camp under the taskmasters. Shia La Boeuf is the young man and Khleo Thomas his friend at the camp. They both sustain the film and are always a welcome counterbalance to the warden and her henchmen.

1. The popular novel? Americana? The writer adapting his novel for the screen? A cinematic interpretation of a novel?

2. The desert locations, barrenness, heat? The town? The camp? The landscape with the holes, dry, the mountains in the background, the Thumb Peak, the caves?

3. The contrast with the 19th century town, the water in the lake, fruitfulness, the rowing on the lake – and the draining of the lake and its becoming desert?

4. The songs used throughout the film, the chants, the lyrics, the comment on the activities, the characters? The musical score?

5. The moving between 21st and 19th centuries, the 21st century as the framework, the insertion of the flashbacks, the way that they were placed, the build-up of the story, in Europe, in America? Their coming together in Stanley’s mind?

6. The blend of realism and magic realism? The 19th century, her curse? Katherine and the interactions with Stanley’s great-grandfather? Stanley and the shoes hitting him – and the irony of the explanation of Zero throwing them away? The poisonous lizards? The onions – Sam’s selling them, Katherine’s peaches – and their helping the two boys to survive over a century later?

7. The Yelnats family, Stanley spelt backwards? The grandfather and his storytelling, the family listening, the grandfather’s support of Stanley especially with the police? Stanley’s father, his inventions, getting rid of odour in shoes? The smelly house, the joke about the old woman who lived in the shoe and the smell? His being a good man, his failures – eventual success, the commercial and the sportsman endorsing the product? Stanley’s mother, love for her husband, exasperation with him? Love for her son, the letter-writing? Their support for him in the court?

8. The European story, the old country, Elia Yelnats, his courting the young woman, his going to Madame Zeroni, her advice, the pig, his looking after it, its growing fat, his exercise, the girl with the choice, her not having any brains, the pressure from her father, the fat suitor, the rivalry, her criteria, Elia’s exasperation and his leaving, going to America – and forgetting his promise to carry Madame Zeroni to the top of the mountain, the curse and its effect? The encounter with Katherine, the irony of chest and its containing the treasure, his name on it? The fact that he had forgotten to carry Madame Zeroni to the top of the mountain, the curse?

9. Madame Zeroni, as a witch, the curse, the plea to be taken up the mountain? Zero and his fulfilment of his great grandmother’s wishes?

10. The title, the literal holes in the ground, the historical holes through which the plot fell into the 19th century, the realistic holes in the plot line? Digging holes as a way of developing character, according to Mr Sir?

11. Stanley, his age, experience, home life, finding the shoes, the police taking him, the family interpreting it as an effect of the curse, his going to the court, his choice for the camp?

12. The camp, in the desert? The warden and her control, knowing everything that was going on, tough? Mr Sir, his stances, manner, bullying? The doctor and his place in the administration, counsellor, supervisor? Getting the boys up early, supervising their work, the canteens for water, the meals, the fights amongst the boys, the relaxation? Their picking on the boys, discipline, penalties? The irony of the real reason for digging the holes, looking for the treasure?

13. The warden, as a young girl with her grandfather, digging the holes even on Christmas Day? Her control, of the men? Her attitude towards Mr Sir, hitting him, scratching him with the poison? Her support of Stanley? Giving boys the day off when they discovered things? The excavations? The search? The lawyer and the approach about Stanley’s release, her cover-ups, the files, the lies? Her finally being caught and caught out?

14. Sir, his manner, threats, the discovery of the seeds, the discipline of Stanley, the warden and her criticism of him? Stanley taking his car, the chase? The destruction of the files? The irony of his being identified as a criminal?

15. The doctor, the yes-man, with Mr Sir, at the beck and call of the warden, his being exposed as a fake?

16. Stanley, the initial digging, slow, Zero helping? The water canteens? Finding the shell with the “K.B.” on it? X-ray demanding that he get the credit and the day off? Stanley and his shrewdness about showing it the next day? Stanley’s relationship with the other boys, standing up for himself, the strength of the nickname, Caveman? Zero asking him to read, his initial refusal? His letter to his mother – and the visualising of the opposite of what he was writing? Zero supporting him after the incident with the seeds, his helping him to read? Zero running away, Stanley pursuing him in the car, crashing it? Finding Zero in the cave, climbing with him to the top of the peak, his own dangling over the side and Zero saving him? Their return?

17. Zero, his back-story, his mother? Quiet and not talking to anyone but Stanley? His capacity to dig? His quick learning to read? Supporting Stanley with the seeds? The conflict with Sir, his going, the trek through the desert? Being found by Stanley, saving him on the cliffside? The return? The money – and the reuniting with his mother?

18. The characters of the other boys, Armpit, his smell, humour? Their playing together? X-ray, the dominance? The bullying boys? The activities of the boys in hut D, their interactions?

19. The portrait of the Yelnats’ home, the father, a genial man, his continued work at inventions, the curse?

20. The 19th century story, initially seeing Kate as the outlaw, the confrontation with Elia? Later seeing her as a good teacher, nice, sweet? In the school with the children, teaching the adults to read? Repelling the advances, the subject for jealousy? Her fondness for Sam, his sales, his fixing the house and the school, in love with him? Seeing Sam as the victim of the vengeful townspeople? Her change of stance, her killing of the sheriff? Her going as a bank robber, the headlines and all that she achieved? The final confrontation in the desert with her assailant and his wife? Getting the lizard, dying? The irony that she was murdered by the warden’s grandfather?

21. Stanley, the ending, his achievement, building character? Zero telling him the true story about the shoes, his stealing them and throwing them away? The breaking of the curse – realistically and magically? The effect of the treasure, the old bonds? Stanley giving half to Zero?

22. A complicated entertaining story of two centuries – with a moral about boys, character, authority, punishment? Character and achievement?