Divergent is a book to movie adaption, the trilogy- Divergent, Insurgent and Allegiant- was written by Veronica Roth. Divergent, the author’s debut novel was released in 2011 and hit massive success. It was voted favourite book of 2011 in Goodreads Choice Awards, as well as winning the Sakura medal contest. I started reading the series back in 2011, and have been a loyal fan until the final instalment last year. In my opinion the first novel was by far the best, and Roth’s world building is to be commended. However as the series continued I was disappointed by the turn of events. (Any of you who have read the Allegiant will know why) I haven’t read the first novel in four years, so I was left with a bitter taste from the final books and forgot why I loved the first one. As a result I was extremely hesitant to watch the movie, I was certain it was going to be disappointed. Even after I saw the trailer I was not impressed and entered with low expectations.
But let me tell you I was wrong. As soon as the opening credits started I completely discarded of my prenotions and fully immersed myself the world director Neil Burger was creating.
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| Roth's Trilogy |
Divergent occurs in a dystopian world where society has been split into five factions that each pride themselves in a certain trait:
Amity: Peaceful
Erudite: Intelligent
Candor: Honest
Abnegation: Selfless
Dauntless: Brave
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| The different factions symbols and what they mean |
In this world everyone fits into these categories and those that don’t are Factionless and a left to live homeless.
The plot revolves around sixteen year old Beatrice Prior (Shailene Woodley) who has grown up in Abnegation but has never felt as if she belonged. Each sixteen year old undergo an aptitude test that determines which fraction they are suited to and can make their final decision at the Choosing Ceremony. However Beatrice’s results are inclusive, meaning that she is Divergent. A divergent in this world is hunted and killed as they can think independently and are considered threats to the social order.
After Beatrice now shorten to “Tris”, chooses Daughtless, the film follows her struggles in Dauntless training and the obstacles that face her due to her divergence when Erudites leader Jeanine (Kate Kinslet) launches a plan to take over the government. During her tests she meets Four (Theo James) who plays a crucial role in the characters development.
I haven’t seen a movie as long as Divergent in quite some time, and at 140 minutes I was sure to get bored at some point, right? Wrong. The movie was so fast paced that despite the length of the movie, in my opinion each scene was important in the overall story line. I actually think that if the movie was any shorter it wouldn’t of done the novel justice. As I read the book so long ago, each scene was was visually spectacular and took me back to Roth’s description and it truly felt as if my imagination was coming to life.
I also think Burger did an excellent job in condensing the world in the opening scene, usually when this is done for book to movie adaptations it comes across annoying and unnatural. But in Divergent I didn’t mind it.
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| Choosing Ceremony |
One of the factors that made this movie extraordinary for me was its soundtrack. I loved the way each fraction had their own ‘vibe’ that was matched perfectly by the music. Many movies soundtracks can seem forced and overpower actors and the story line, but Divergent was spot on. My favourite scene was definitely when Tris was zip lining, it just brought back so many emotions (**Four going down the same zip-line in the epilogue of Allegiant**) from the books. The scene was matched with the song “I Need You” by M83, and now every time I hear that song it brings me back to that moment which is when you know the director has done an excellent job.
Watch M83's "I Need You":
Although I was originally hesitant to see this film I am so glad I did. It reminded me why I loved the novel so much and really put the series in a full circle for me. (It kind of gave me closure after what happened in the last book and allowed me to look back at the series and understand why Roth made the decisions she did)
Since I have already read the series I’m familiar with the world and its characters so I can’t comment on how confusing the plot may be for viewer who aren't familiar with the plot and I’m probably biased in my review.
I definitely recommend reading the book before watching the film, as even though in my opinion it was a successful book to movie adaption, nothing can compare to the detail in Roth’s novel.
Even though I loved Divergent I’m still nervous about the upcoming films to finish of the Trilogy, with Insurgent released in one years time, and Allegiant to be split in to two parts over the following years.
Rating:
4.5/5
Trailer:
Do this quiz to find out what faction you belong to best:
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| What did you get? Comment below :) |
Swatika Suresh
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