Last Friday, I wrote a vicious entry denouncing Ron Howard's film adaptation of Angels&Demons (if you could even call it that). This week, trapped in our little apartment due to massive snow and ice storms, I decided to take the plunge and watch an episode or two of the miniseries based on Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth.
When it comes to taking a 978-page bestselling novel and turning it into a film, television show, or miniseries, I am not an idealist. I realize that not everything can be retained. It is much easier for an author to convey what he or she wants to in printed form. Books can go on forever, and there's no limit to the scope of the imagination. When it comes to film media, however, there are limits: budget, acting capability, directorial capability (Ron Howard, I'm looking at you), setting issues (to CGI or not to CGI) , and time constraints. It is much more difficult to tell the same story on the silver screen, than in a novel.
Yet, it's been done. It was done in 1938-39, before CGI, heck, before even Technicolor was universal. In 1938, when director David O. Selznick made the film adaptation of Gone With The Wind, he faced the herculean task of taking a HUGE book (approx. 1028 pages, depending on the publication) and turn it into a four-hour, two part film. There was no way that he could put in the ENTIRE novel, without making a 20-hour film. But in an interview, Selznick said he wasn't trying to cram all of GWTW into the film, but he was creating the illusion that he had, by leaving in the most important parts and not changing anything of vital importance. Obviously, the American public felt that he succeeded (the film won Best Picture in 1939, as well as a ton of other awards).
But a gem like Gone With The Wind is rare to find. Which is why I hesitated when everyone was telling me to give The Pillars of the Earth a try. How could filmmakers have crammed 978 pages of a book that takes place over a period of 50 years into 8 one-hour episodes?
Somehow, they did. And they made it work.
Don't get me wrong. There are some massive changes -- the timeline of the film is broken down over a period of 15 years, rather than 50, and the entire ending has been changed. Yet, until the last episode, almost everything is verbatim to the book. The ending is changed, yes, but in such a way that I was left thinking "Okay, it's different. It's still a good ending. Obviously, the book is way better" -- because the ending of the book, if you haven't read it, just blows you out of the water, particularly if you, like me, are an English history buff and can see what's coming -- "but it's still a phenomenal piece of work."
I'm also thrilled with the casting decisions made here, particularly with the hero, Jack Jackson (sounds weird until you remember that in medieval England the surnames of men came from their father, so Jack Jackson is really Jack, son of Jack -- get it?):
Right on the money. Also, Ian McShane as Bishop Walern Bigod? Great casting, but I can't help thinking of him as the stepdad from Hot Rod. I also may or may not have a crush on Matthew MacFayden, who plays Prior Phillip...I really do have issues with good-looking priests in films, don't I?
I give Pillars of the Earth, the miniseries, three and a half stars for accuracy, but four and a half stars for delivery, because it really is a fantastic effort by its director. If you enjoyed the book, it's a must-see, but I do urge you to read the book first, if you're planning on it.
The real ending really is that much better.
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