Room

Bismillahirahmanirrahim,

Assalamualaikum w.b.t,

Last night, I found the film online while downloading ‘Deadpool’, as requested by my youngest brother. Since I enjoyed the book, I can’t help but to download ‘Room’ and watch the movie the very moment the download completed. The movie was released on 4th September 2015, directed by Lenny Abrahamson. The 2 hours length movie gained 8.3/10 rating from IMDb, 95% from Rotten Tomatoes and 86% from Metacritic.

‘Room’ was written by Emma Donoghue and it is a different kind of story. It is not a typical romance, thriller or heroic journey. It is an overwhelming journey of discovering the world, patching up relationships, finding one self and becoming an adult. It is an incredible story of a boy named Jack and his Ma. Jack is a brilliant boy who thinks a leap further than boys of his age though he had never seen the world. The story begins on the day Jack turned five, he tells us how he is living in ‘Room’, a 10 x 10 shed in which Jack and his Ma are held confined by Old Nick. 

Ma was actually abducted when she was 17 and she was held in ‘Room’ since. Two years after the abduction and constant rape, she had Jack. Jack had never set foot outside ‘Room’ or seen the world, apart from seeing the blue sky or the snow fallen on the skylight of ‘Room’. Ma told him that everything inside ‘Room’ is real and the outside is not. He learned various things from his Ma’s stories, TV and books that Ma read to him. After he turned five, Jack keeps on asking more questions and Ma realized that they need to escape. Jack is growing up and he needed more space and his world should be more than just in the ‘Room’. They managed to escape but the life in ‘world’ is not easy for Jack and neither it is for Ma. 

The first time I picked up the book (it was borrowed), I couldn’t stop reading it. I finished ‘Room’ in one go and decided to visit the pages again. The story sticks in my head and I decided to buy a copy for myself - which I treasure dearly. Perhaps I’ve read over ‘Room’ more than 20 times but I still find the journey that Jack and Ma had inspiring and overwhelming. The film was exactly how I imagined it to be. The screenplay was written  by the author herself so the details that are mentioned in the book are included in the film. (I still have a little grudge on how some important details in Harry Potter books are neglected in the films and some unnecessary scenes are added). Though the movie is great in essence, I’m afraid the pace of the film is a little slow and thus, those who have never read the book would probably find it boring. The colours and lighting of the first half of the film is dark and dull, which is perfect because it shows the reality of being confined in 10x10 shed. The general pace of the story is a little slow but the performances of the actors balanced the pace and made us indulge in the subtle growth of the characters' emotions.

As I read the book, I wondered who could portray Jack and Ma. The two characters seem so simple but there are underlying complexities of emotions and internal struggle within both characters. Ma is a strong willed young woman who would do anything to keep her son safe. Ma seems strong on the outside but being a victim of abduction, she is emotionally depressed and traumatized. Upon returning to her home, she found out that her parents are divorced after she was kidnapped. Her life had changed tremendously after the kidnapping, the home she returned to was not the same home when she left, her friends are leading a perfectly normal life when she missed seven years of her youth and the media are paying too much attention to her and keeps on pressing on the point that she raised her son in a confined room which led her son to be deprived in so many ways. The emotional shock and pressure led her to attempting suicide. 

Jack on the other hand is a smart five year old boy. He enjoys reading and is very curious of everything around him. He loves asking questions and listening to Ma’s stories. Jack showed bravery when he helped to save his mother from Old Nick. After he was saved from ‘Room’, Jack was astonished by the ‘world’ that he had never seen before. He was scared of people and the enormous space before him. Lights and sounds around him scared him. So, he seeks comfort in the small wardrobe of his mother’s old room. He hides behind his Ma and speaks to no one but his Ma. Even when his grandmother asked him questions, he would whisper to Ma, and Ma would answer the questions for him.  After Ma’s attempted suicide, Jack was left to the care of his grandmother and her new partner, Leo.  His grandmother’s warmth helped him to open up more to people. Jack finds comfort talking to his grandmother and helping her with the chores, like he did with Ma in the ‘Room’. He even went out of the house and helped his grandmother to buy groceries. He warmly greets the neighbor and even played with Aaron, a boy of his age. 

The actors, Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay who played Ma and Jack are critically acclaimed for their performances in ‘Room’. ‘Room’ may not collected as much as other mainstream movies packed with action and romance but ‘Room’ is a special film that makes you think of life, reflect how you have led your life and probably question the true meaning of bonds, acceptance and living life to the fullest. ‘Room’ took me to such an incredible journey and perhaps not just anyone would find ‘Room’ enjoyable but it is a movie worth the watch.