James M. Barrie's "Peter Pan" was written more than a century ago, yet its tale of a wild boy who never wants to grow up still captures our imaginations. In addition to La Jolla Playhouse's "Fly," there is a new film called "Wendy" that uses "Peter Pan" as a source of inspiration.
Benh Zeitlin first grabbed my attention in 2012 with "Beasts of the Southern Wild," a beautiful cinematic poem told from the point of view of a young girl growing up in a bayou threatened by rising waters from the ice caps melting. For "Wendy" he also decides to tell a story from a young girl's perspective by reimagining "Peter Pan" from Wendy's point of view.
This retelling has a non-specific modern setting and opens in a cafe that is next to train tracks. One wild boy runs out of the cafe and jumps on the train, which seems to be calling him to escape. The train whistle and the appearance of a boy on the train also lure Wendy (Devin France) and her two brothers. The boy turns out to be Peter Pan (Yashua Mack) and he takes them on a journey to Neverland where they can remain young and never have to grow up.
The thing that Zeitlin captures best is a sense of joyous exhilaration that comes through his young cast, Dan Romer's driving score, and the breathless cinematography and editing. There is a sense of movement in his films, whether it is the landscape whizzing by as the train travels or children running without care, that conveys such a sense of joy and wildness that it's intoxicating. But he also tempers that with a sense of reality. The landscape the train passes by sometimes looks ravaged as if destroyed by climate change or by other things humanity has wrought.
Wendy may be a wild child who loves the freedom Peter offers but she is also fully aware of the grief her mother must be feeling over the disappearance of her children and of her responsibility to grow up. But Wendy also sees that there is a way to grow up without losing all the wonder of childhood.
"Wendy" is not as complex or nuanced a film as "Beasts of the Southern Wild" but it is still a wonderful film full of both enchantment and a gritty sense of the real world. It is a film that acknowledges the need we have for a Peter Pan who refuses to grow up but also for the reality of having to accept responsibilities. Zeitlin does not want to pass judgment on his characters but rather wants us to experience them in all their glory, flaws and vulnerabilities. The film exists to remind us of that wonder and curiosity of childhood and to not let that part of us go completely.
