Saturday, December 10, 2011

North and South the BBC series

Wow, it has been a while since I last posted, but I have not felt excited in a large level in a while. Sure, there are songs that are killing me right now, like Snow Patrol's Called Out in the Dark - I can hear it over and over. But for movies and tv series, not so much. I will do a separate blog for the Twilight series, but this post is about North and South (2004), a BBC production.

John and Margaret professing their love ♥


Who has heard of Richard Armitage? Not many, but many will when the Hobbit comes out. Now I will be one of the ones out of the dark and know what a good actor he is. Ok, so the script and the series were good, but he brought it! He was perfectly cast as Mr. Thornton. I cannot say I have read the novel, but I am sure curious to see how much I would like it after watching the series (written by Elizabeth Gaskell). 

Let me tell you, this is one love story that compares to Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth's. Do I dare say it? Yes. This does not mean that this was better than Pride and Prejudice, not at all, it's just the way the love story of Margaret Hale and John Thornton plays. They don't like each other at the beginning and then he likes her, but she doesn't, then she does something that makes him not like her, then she likes him, and finally (!) they get together. ☺

 In the meantime, there is a bit of "history" given to the watcher, how cotton mills worked in the 1800's, in a time when cotton was just starting to make an appearance in England. There is actually a comment by one of the characters that says how they think they will always wear linen. Well, sure seems cotton is more popular now. They show industrialization at its height, unions starting to happen because of poor working conditions. Sad looking people are shown, with hungry kids to spare, and lots of dirty clothes around. Aren't you glad you live in this century?

There is quite a bit of sadness on this story, it's not very cheerful, but it grabs your attention. Well, at least it caught mine. I was really impressed with Armitage the most, and not just because of his pretty face, he can act. Daniela Denby-Ashe was good as Margaret, but sometimes she gets a blank look on her face that did not sit well with me. In the end, when Margaret was able to show how she was feeling for John, Daniela's face changes and then I thought she was better. 

Oh, if I was a director! But of course we all think we can do better than others. Hee hee. It is just a dream, like so many others related to art. If you get a chance to watch it, please give your opinion.

1 comment:

  1. I love your entries!

    Totally get the 2nd paragraph.....don't like each other, he likes, he doesn't like, she likes then they both like *sigh*.

    Not a huge fan of the book maybe because it is sad and gloomy and I felt it was slow so it just didn't have the 'grab your attention' like the movie is able to do.

    ReplyDelete