 | Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens |
While it is usually true that the book is better than the movie, I have found it to be especially true of classic stories. I tend to believe myself to be intimate with the book plot and am always surprised to find that there are many facets that are not as commonly known. The characters are universally recognized, yet reading the original book makes the characters so much more three dimensional, so to speak. There are bits and pieces, entire characters even, that never made it into the movies that intertwine into young Oliver's life that gives so much more to the story.
There are sublots and conspiracies between Fagin and minor characters that doesn't see the light of day in films. The times are described in ways that movie scenery just cannot define. People in authority abused their power and treated their wards irreprehensibly and no one seemed to care.
I had to laugh at the differences in the times. When the orphanage is being inspected, the matron quickly explains that the bottle of gin in the cupboard was to administer to the children when they were ill, implying that she would never personally partake in the drinking of spirits. Alcohol and opium were commonly used for medicinal purposes back in the days of Oliver Twist's childhood.
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