Mr. Pip (2012)

Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

Beautiful, moving film.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

a film who impress for its delicate grace. a story about small things. about a novel as bridge between people, about violence, sacrifice, ideal, new beginnings. but, more important, superb manner to create, explore and define his character by Hugh Laurie. in same measure, the film of Xzannjah Matsi who does a touching, subtle, bitter role in the wise manner to define it as living proof of a special form of miracle. a film who must see. for its strange beauty, for the status of inspired adaptation, for discover a world who seems be too far in too many senses. a perfect puzzle. who it has not the ambition to show. only to remember. a film about a place and a period who gives the best definition for each place and period defined by tensions, war and courage of ordinary people.

Sorry but I did not make it past 60 minutes. Yes, the acting is fine. Yes, the photography is excellent. but............ All the native villagers are dressed in Victorian clothing just as if we were in the middle of a Dickens novel. Their clothing is immaculate clean and hair immaculate quaffed. There is a complete economic embargo but our natives want for nothing. Oh...........and they also speak perfect English and sit enthralled by the Dickens oral reading. These natives apparently understand English much better than I. Sorry but as soon as I started receiving the obligatory moral lessons I had enough. I suppose if you love Dickens this must be a virtual and cinema paradise.

This New Zealand production, directed by Andrew Adamson (of Shrek fame) is based on a critically acclaimed book, which I have not read, that apparently takes place on an unnamed island in the Pacific. The filmmakers decided to set the story on the island of Bougainville, which is part of the independent country of Papua New Guinea.There is a war raging, and a hostile military harass the villagers believing they are sheltering the rebels. As this goes on, a young girl becomes fascinated by the Charles Dickens novel Great Expectations, which is being read at school by the teacher (Hugh Laurie), the only white man in the village. The causes of the war are never explained in the movie, though a quick internet search tells it involves rebels who want Bougainville to become independent of Papua (happily the war seems to have ended now, with Bougainville becoming an autonomous region). As for the movie, the constant references to Great Expectations didn't do too much for me (and I did read the Dickens' classic, though as a child, so I don't remember it very much). I was more interested in the movie almost ethnographic side, showing the daily lives of the people there with their traditional lifestyle in the midst of a very beautiful place. The movie never convincingly explains why the teacher is there, or why he feels is better to teach them Western literature than practical skills (and frankly, for what it is shown in the movie, he's not much of a teacher). If you come to think of it, the movie is a bit condescending, as it has a Western man teaching the natives how to feel, think, all in the village end up looking up to him, etc.Laurie is lost in the role, but the native actors are very good, especially Xzannjah Matsi as the girl Matilda. The best performance, however, is by the actor playing the evil officer in charge of the Papuan troops (from reading the final credits, I believe his name is David Kaumara). With some unbelievable plot turns, this film is not perfect, but very intriguing and very much well worth watching.

A great film...I thought Xzannjah Matsi, Healesville Joel and Hugh Laurie were amazing in this story set on Bougainville Island, part of the Solomon Islands, in Papua New Guinea. This film was a little brutal at times and unfortunately, demonstrates the heartless soul in some on this earth but a movie definitely worth the time and worth watching! Bougainville Island is a beautiful setting for this film where Hugh Laurie plays a teacher who takes the islands' children on a journey through a novel by Charles Dickens - Great Expectations. Set in a time of great island conflict over an open pit copper mine and the various fighting factions of the government and the island rebels. Beautifully done...well done!