The Golden Compass

Once upon a time, our world was a different place. Humans were just like us; but their souls lived outside their bodies in animal form, accompanying them around wherever humans went. When humans were still children (presumably, their innocence intact), these animal-form souls (also called daemons) could change into other animals according to the need of the hour. With human adults, souls could not change forms, and they were attached to their specific animal-form souls until death.

The world, then, was ruled by the Magisterium – a quasi Church cum Big Brother administration. The Magisterium secretly kidnapped children and took them to a scientific laboratory somewhere in the Arctic. There, they separated the children’s human bodies from their animal-form souls and then left the children to wander around aimlessly in the cold. They did this to take away the ‘free will’ from the children – to make the children obedient to the Magisterium’s rule as they grew up into adult citizens of the world.

However, in the universe, there was a mysterious cosmic substance called Dust which embodied free will and other ‘good properties’. Once humans came into contact with Dust, they remained human forever, with their free will intact, and therefore could do whatever they pleased. Hence, the Magisterium looked upon Dust as its worst enemy – and, apart from keeping its knowledge a secret, would do anything to keep it away from entering their world.

In this world – which, otherwise, resembled 19th century England – lived an adolescent tomboyish orphan girl called Lyra. Her uncle, Lord Asriel, kept Lyra under the tutelage of the professors of Jordan College while he lived the life of an explorer. But Lyra was a free-spirited girl and she couldn’t be taught, nor managed, by anyone. She lived a happy-go-lucky life until one day when her uncle, Lord Asriel, returned from his Arctic trip with a picture of Dust entering a man’s body through his animal-form soul.

Thereafter, a chain of events began. Lyra met the mysterious Mrs Coulter, a beautiful wealthy lady, at a Jordan College banquet. Mrs Coulter immediately befriended Lyra and invited Lyra on a trip ‘up North’ on her deluxe airship. At this moment, Lyra’s childhood friend Roger disappeared. When Lyra discovered that Roger was kidnapped by the evil Gobblers (agents of the Magisterium) and taken to the Arctic, she vowed to find him and save him.

On the eve of her journey with Mrs Coulter, the Master of Jordan College secretly handed Lyra an ‘alethiometer’, or a Golden Compass, which belonged to her uncle, Lord Asriel. The Golden Compass was supposed to show Lyra the truth – or how things really were in the universe. However, Lyra was warned that she must keep the Golden Compass away from Mrs Coulter at all cost. And so, with the Golden Compass hidden in her bag, Lyra set off on a magical and mysterious journey, with Mrs Coulter, the Gobblers and the Magisterium in pursuit.

On the journey with the Golden Compass, Lyra met a group of sea-faring gypsies, called the Gyptians, who saved her from the Gobblers. She met a friendly flying witch called Serafina who gave her directions to where Roger and the kidnapped children where kept. She met an old, eccentric aeronaut called Scoresby who gave her advice and a helping hand every now and then. And, she met an ice bear called Iorek, the dethroned king of the ice bears who had to fight-until-death the present ice-bear-king to win back his kingdom and ascertain his dignity.

In the end, helped by her friends from the journey, and the Golden Compass, Lyra fought the evil forces of the Magisterium, and Mrs Coulter, to save Roger and all the children from the Arctic.

Such is the story of the film ‘The Golden Compass’ – a fantasy adventure from writer-director Chris Weitz. ‘The Golden Compass’ is based on British novelist Philip Pullman’s first volume of ‘His Dark Materials’ best-selling trilogy. Since I haven’t read Philip Pullman’s books, I cannot compare the book with the film. But, to me, the film ‘The Golden Compass’ seems to be a mix of two films I had seen earlier: ‘The Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ and ‘Stardust’. Hence, I feel, ‘The Golden Compass’ is a bit of a rehash of old themes and images.

Mind you, ‘The Golden Compass’ has plenty of fantasy and adventure to keep the boy in me excited. But some things are missing. To start with, the characters in the film are weak. They are underdeveloped. For instance, Lord Asriel (played by Daniel Craig) is not developed at all. He is there, in snatches, only for a few minutes. The same holds true for the Gyptian king John Faa (played by Jim Carter) and the flying witch Serafina (played by Eva Green). And, there is nothing extraordinary about Scoresby (played by Sam Elliot).

Of course, Mrs Coulter (played by Nicole Kidman) is given ample time on screen, and she does get into her character remarkably well. Kudos to that! To an extent, Lyra (played by Dakota Blue Richards – a new find) shines in the lead role. Well, at least, she shows enough energy and courage to keep the film going. But there is no character in the film who is endearing.

Besides the characterisation problem, there is no humour in the film. No laughs, no chuckles; nothing to deliver us from the grim cold of the Arctic – or Mrs Coulter. I feel rather cheated because of this. Hence, I can’t say that ‘The Golden Compass’ is as lovable as ‘The Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ or ‘Stardust’, both of which I enjoyed immensely.

What I mean to say is, ‘The Golden Compass’ lacks the sort of charm a film of this sort is expected to possess. Perhaps, writer-director Chris Weitz has had a tough job to do in telling the story of ‘The Golden Compass’, introducing us to a whole new world which is guided by a set of rules that are so different from what we know. Going by the number of paragraphs I had to write (at the beginning of this post) to explain this new world, I guess, ‘The Golden Compass’ is a difficult film to make by any standard.