Holes Details

‘The Shawshank Redemption’ for juvenile delinquents

‘Holes’ is based on the multi-award winning novel by Louis Sachar. It tells the story of Stanley Yelnats (write it backwards) (played by Shia LaBeouf) who has a talent for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

His grandfather tells him it’s all the fault of his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather whose actions left the males in the family cursed forever and eternity; but Stanley doesn’t believe in curses. Until a pair of trainers falls from the sky sparking a chain of events that leaves Stanley with an eighteen month sentence at Camp Greenlake, a correctional facility where they believe “if you take a bad boy and make him dig a hole every day in the hot sun, it will turn him into a good boy”.

‘The Shawshank Redemption’ for juvenile delinquents, a tale of star-crossed lovers, a western, a fairytale and a hunt for buried treasure. Rarely has a film crossed genres so effectively and the result is a masterpiece.

The screenplay (also written by Sachar) is never trite or dull and is startling in its economy when dealing with such a complex storyline. The performances (including turns from Sigourney Weaver, John Voight and Patricia Arquette) are inspired.

Particularly impressive are the child actors (led by LaBeouf giving Tom Hanks a run for his money) who produce superbly naturalistic performances.

To label ‘Holes’ a kid’s film is to discount the most original family film since ‘The Princess Bride’. Moving, funny and magical this is Gabriel García Márquez for new millennium.

Making best-selling books into movies can be a disaster: most authors do not like the result, let alone the viewing public. "Holes" works better than most, despite it's complex story line, because of an engaging and completely natural performance in the part of "Stanley Yelnats". Although this is a Disney-funded feature, anyone who enjoys the work of the Coen Brothers [Raising Arizona, Fargo, The Great Lebowski] will immediately recognise the origin of this film's quirky style; although often it lacks the wry black humour that oozes from every scene of the films which were obviously the inspiration of the director of "Holes". Personally I found the "flip-flop" narrative technique rather annoying towards the end of this film - not unlike the experience of watching adverts suddenly starting at a key moment in a movie on TV. I suggest the film is worth a look if only for Jon Voigt's flawless portrayal of a wall-eyed redneck security warden: genius!