CHRONICLES OF NARNIA:
THE LION, THE WITCH
AND THE WARDROBE

Walt Disney Pictures, 2005
Georgie Henley
Skandar Keynes
William Moseley
Anna Popplewell
Tilda Swinton

I don’t think that there was ever going to be any doubt that this film would be a box office success, but there was some doubt as to whether it would be any good. Everything is in place for it to be a sure fire hit – a much-loved allegorical children’s story, the delightful backdrop of New Zealand, and the wonderful creations of Weta Workshops. Narnia director Andrew Adamson (Shrek and Shrek 2) picks up and carries on the technological advances espoused by fellow New Zealander Peter Jackson in The Lord of The Rings and the resonance betwixt the two is hard to miss. It is a duality that was preceded by the writers of the stories.

CS Lewis and Tolkien met at University and became members of ‘The Inklings’ a group of intellectuals who met regularly in the Eagle and Child pub in Oxford, to read aloud the books they were writing. It was inevitable therefore that parallels would be drawn between the two men’s works. Those parallels would continue into the filmic adaptations of their most coveted stories: Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia, and Tolkien’s The Lord of The Rings.

The story tells of the Pevensie siblings: Lucy (Georgie Henley), Susan (Anna Popplewell), Edmund (Skandar Keynes) and Peter (William Moseley). The children are evacuated from Blitz blighted Finchley and sent to live in a country pile that their mother hopes will find them far from war. The house belongs to Professor Kirk (Jim Broadbent) and is run by the prim Mrs. MacReady (Elizabeth Hawthorne). When playing hide and seek one day in this vast residence, the youngest Pevensie – Lucy, decides to hide in a wardrobe, the depth of which could afford to house even my expansive clutter. As Lucy manoeuvres her way to the back of the wardrobe the fur coats give way to fir trees as Lucy finds that she has stumbled upon a snowy, magical land: Narnia. Narnia has fallen under the spell of the evil White Witch (Tilda Swinton) and prophecy states that two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve will side with the rightful King of Narnia, Aslan the Lion, to defeat the witch and bring harmony to the mythical land.

Lewis’ story is widely read as an allegory for the story of Christ, indeed audiences will see as much Christian symbolism in the film as they wish to. Aslan, with his whole dying that we shall live routine, represents Jesus, or perhaps the holy trinity. Indeed he does rise again. The betrayal by Edmund costs Aslan his life. Edmund sells out to the (d)evil witch for turkish delight. Silly boy, he could have held out for thirty pieces of silver. The scene where Lucy and Susan embrace Aslan’s dead body is reminiscent of the two Marys bathing Jesus’ body prior to resurrection. This is all well and good as a parallel to the biblical story, but it was the one scene of the whole film that bothered me most. Their brothers were mid battle and facing certain death, and instead of heeding the call to arms, they stayed behind to caress a dead kitty’s carcass. Father Christmas had given Susan a bow and arrows and I was screaming for the dippy bint to get up and use them, so curse my heathen soul. Tolkien’s tales managed to be allegorical without having the girls’ wimp out. Eowyn took up the sword in The Return of the King to avenge the death of her cousin and fight beside her brother. So Susan got to launch an arrow at the end once the battle was all but won, big deal: Turn Amazon love and strike a blow/bow for womankind! Tolkien criticised Lewis for making the Christian elements of his story too obvious, but I don’t think that the film is too heavily laden with biblical symbolism. It’s perfectly possible to view the film as a fantasy adventure where good triumphs evil. Others will look for the religious subtext.

For me the parallels between the Battle of Britain and the Battle for Narnia were far more obvious than the Biblical parallels. I enjoyed Peter’s lingering, longing and almost embarrassed glances at the young soldier, not much older than him, who is being sent away to defend his country, while Peter is sent to the country for his protection. The image of the boulder dropping birds flying over the witch’s army is directly comparable with the images of the RAF at the opening of the film. Adamson’s treatment of these scenes is both delicate and deliberately obvious. Whereas the battle scenes do not rival The Lord of the Rings in sheer scale and gore, they are much more child friendly, this is Disney after all, and not a shed of blood will spill. .

With everything set to make this film a success, I was certain that it would disappoint. But, for me, it didn’t. If you take it at face value this is a pleasant, festive, family film and is a pre-Christmas must see for kids – if only to put them off turkish delight for life.