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Friday, March 21, 2014
‘Divergent’ doesn’t diverge quite enough
Associated Press Writer
If you have a kid of a certain age — especially a girl, preteen or thereabouts — then you know the young-adult entertainment message of choice these days: You’re you, and nobody else. Don’t let them define you. Don’t let them put you into one of their neat little slots. You’re unique. And you’re gonna show the world. You go, girl! So it’s no surprise that this is the message of “Divergent,” the latest young adult blockbuster-in-waiting. It’s also no surprise that the emerging young star Shailene Woodley delivers a crucial dose of humility, sensitivity and intelligence in this showcase role. And it’s no surprise, either, that she generates nice chemistry with her rather absurdly good-looking co-star, Theo James. What IS surprising is that with all these promising elements, “Divergent,” the first of three installments based on first-time author Veronica Roth’s trilogy, ultimately feels so lackluster. For a film predicated on the principle that being different — or “divergent” — is what makes you special, “Divergent” just doesn’t diverge enough from the pack. Not that this will hurt the film’s chances at the box office. Like “The Hunger Games,” the franchise to which it will
unavoidably be compared, “Divergent” has a ready-made audience of fans just waiting to fill those seats — over 11 million books have been sold, after all. Those book fans will have a crucial head start. “Divergent” takes a good deal of time explaining plot mechanics, but If you already know what’s happening, you can spend more time admiring, say, those cheekbones on James — or his day-old, dystopian stubble. In a nutshell, “Divergent,” directed by Neil Burger, takes place in a futuristic Chicago, a bleak version indeed of the Windy City. Half of every building seems to be destroyed, leaving hulking shells. Civilization is divided into five factions, based on human virtues: Dauntless, Abnegation, Erudite, Amity, and Candor. Beatrice Prior (Woodley) is born into Abnegation. But at age 16, a citizen can choose their own faction, at the Choos-
Associated Press Writer
caust survivors around the world. As the organization turns 20, it has expanded its mission to include interviews with survivors of other genocides, including those in Armenia, Cambodia and Rwanda. Spielberg was inspired to create the foundation after meeting so many Holocaust survivors while making “Schindler’s List,” which tells the story of a German businessman who used his Nazi ties to rescue 1,100 Jews from the Holo-
ing Ceremony. Right before, they take an aptitude test that tells them which faction they fit best. Beatrice’s results are downright scary: She has not one virtue, but all of them. She is “divergent” — which makes her dangerous. To the distress of her parents (Ashley Judd and Tony Goldwyn), Beatrice opts to join Dauntless, the most courageous faction, but also the most reckless: Pierced and tattooed, they look like unusually fit punk rockers. Soon she’s in boot camp, jumping on and off trains (trains never seem to actually stop in this movie) and into pits, and fighting viciously in the ring, under the guidance of the initially unforgiving Four (James), her trainer. Gradually, Beatrice — she’s renamed herself “Tris” — becomes buff and strong. But will it be enough to survive? On top of all this, there’s a political storm brewing, led by the villainess Jeanine Matthews, played by a blonde and stiletto-clad Kate Winslet in one of her less convincing performances (in a sadly under-written role.) Matthews is the leader of Erudite, which means she’s got a killer IQ along with those killer heels, and she’s convinced that Divergents are a threat to her plan to overthrow Abnegation.
Spielberg’s Shoah Foundation expands, turns 20
LOS ANGELES — Steven Spielberg isn’t planning on making any more Holocaust movies. The Oscar-winning director is leaving that to the Shoah Foundation. After “Schindler’s List,” Spielberg turned his lens on real survivors of the World War II Jewish genocide through his foundation, which has since filmed nearly 52,000 testimonies from Holo-
caust. The film’s greatest legacy isn’t its seven Oscars, $300 million in worldwide box office or even its message of humanity, says the 67-year-old, but the ongoing work of the Shoah Foundation. “It literally popped into my head on the drive back to my house in Krakow after a day of shooting the film that if ‘Schindler’s List’ had any success at all, the success would not be a monetary, commercial one, but the success would be that this film would open a door for me to start taking as many testimonies as humanly possible,” Spielberg said in a telephone interview Monday on behalf of the organization, now known as USC Shoah Foundation — The Institute for Visual History and Education. He also wrote the introduction for a book commemorating its 20th anniversary, “Testimony: The Legacy of Schindler’s List and the USC Shoah Foundation,” which will be released next week. AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian, file
FILE - In this Oct. 21, 2008 file photo, honoree Kirk Douglas, center, with host Billy Crystal, left, and event chair Steven Spielberg, attend the USC Shoah Foundation Institute’s Ambassador for Humanity gala at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. spi
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Australia investigates ‘possible’ MH370 debris Agence France-Presse AP Photo/Summit Entertainment, Jaap Buitendijk
This image released by Summit Entertainment shows Zoe Kravitz, left, and Shailene Woodley in a scene from “Divergent.”
CANBERRA - Australia said Thursday that two objects -- one estimated at 24 metres (79 feet) long -- had been spotted in the Indian Ocean, the “best lead we have” in the search for a Malaysian passenger jet. Four search aircraft had been dispatched to the remote area of the southern Indian Ocean to check whether grainy satellite photos indicated debris from missing Malaysia Airlines MH370, as relatives of passengers huddled anxiously awaiting news. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott told parliament the images represented “new and credible information” but stressed that the link with flight MH370 had still to be confirmed. “Following specialist analysis of this satellite imagery, two possible objects related to the search have been identified,” Abbott said. The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777, carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew, vanished in the early hours of March 8 after veering drastically off course over the South China Sea while en route to Beijing. The reason for the deviation remains unknown although investigators believe it was the result of “deliberate action” by someone on board. Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) official John Young said the largest object sighted was assessed as being 24 metres long. The two objects were in the southern Indian Ocean, about 2,500 kilometres (1,553 miles) southwest of Perth. “The indication to me is of objects that are of a reasonable size and probably awash with water and bobbing up and down over the surface,” Young said, calling it, “the best lead we have right now”. “But we need to get there, find them, see them, assess them, to know whether it’s really meaningful or not.” A merchant ship was expected to arrive in the vicinity around 0700 GMT and the Australian naval vessel HMAS Success, which is capable of retrieving any debris, is some days away. Abbott warned that it may turn out the objects “are not related to the search for flight MH370”. The international search for the plane has been marked by numerous false leads, but the latest photos are the first solid clue since the search area was significantly expanded last weekend to take in a vast part of the Indian Ocean. The expansion, based on sketchy radar and satellite data, involved two vast search corridors, stretching south into the Indian Ocean and north over South and Central Asia. Most analysts had favoured the southern corridor, saying it was unlikely the airliner passed undetected over nearly one dozen countries in the northern arc.
AP Photo/Commonwealth of Australia
In this March 16, 2014 satellite imagery provided by Commonwealth of Australia - Department of Defence on Thursday, March 20, 2014, a floating object is seen at sea next to the descriptor which was added by the source. The satellite photos were taken on Sunday, meaning the objects have been subjected to four days of ocean drift, making them a “logistical nightmare” to locate, said Australian Defence Minister David Johnston. “We are in a most isolated part of the world. In fact it probably doesn’t get, if I can be so bold, more isolated,” Johnston told Sky News Australia. Fundamental questions
Malaysian Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein stressed the urgent need to verify and “corroborate” what the images showed. Experts said the fact that Abbott himself had released the
information added weight to its credibility. But David Kaminski-Morrow, air transport editor with aviation magazine Flight International, said the history of false starts meant the information will be “treated with extreme caution”. “It’s the best lead simply because, with so little information, it’s effectively the only lead,” he said. Malaysian authorities have been criticised for their handling of the investigation, especially by relatives of those on board who have complained of confusing or non-existent information. Continued on page 6