In a day and age where the teenage group is characterized by social networking, Starbucks, and the Internet, it may be a shock to find that books are also a characteristic of our generation, particularly novels that take place in other worlds like that of Divergent. Divergent had its box office showing this past weekend, and I was dead center of the movie screen on Friday, March 21, cheering on Shailene Woodley and Theo James, who play the main characters Tris and Four, as they tried to overthrow the corrupt Erudite Jeanine Matthews, played by Kate Winslet.
The premise of the novel is that there is a world divided into five factions: Amity, Erudite, Abnegation, Candor, and Dauntless. When the kids of each factions are of a certain age, they must take a test to determine which faction they should choose. Then at a choosing ceremony the kids pledge their loyalty to their new faction. Tris is a former Abnegation, who chose the Dauntless faction to hide her inconclusive test results as a Divergent. The rest of the book divulges into her training as a Dauntless and culminates with a mission to overthrow the corrupt Erudites, who intend to eliminate all Divergents.
I thought the movie was fantastic. I hadn’t the pleasure of reading the novel, so while watching the film I was in no way disappointed by the movie’s lack of novel content.
My movie experience was heightened by three things: I went with a group of friends, which made everything better, I was completely enamored with Woodley’s and James’ performance, and I thought all of the Dauntless training was pretty wicked. I felt like I was drawn into the world separated by the five factions.
Because I hadn’t read the book some questions were left unanswered in my head, but they were quickly answered by the movie. They did not leave the less educated audience members hanging, because they were lacking knowledge.
Before going to the film, many were complaining that the movie was going to be too similar to The Hunger Games. I thought the plot lines were completely different, which made each film a completely different experience.
I would recommend this movie to anyone going because it offers different dynamics of the film industry: action, romance, and drama. There are aspects for everyone. I thought the movie was great. It inspired me to begin to read the trilogy, and I am now anxiously awaiting Allegiant.
