Review of Oliver Twist (2005) by Davey M — 14 Apr 2008

Not only as perfect an adaptation of Dickens as one could ever hope for, it's even better than the source material itself. Polanski has all the compassion, the sincere depth of emotion, the soaring style, the wondrous characterization and the painful social commentary of Dickens, but he dispenses with the distracting (if, considered in its time and place, more than excusable) sentimentality of the novel.

Soaring filmmaking; it's almost overwhelmingly true and honest and powerful. The final scene is even more astonishingly moving considered within the context of Polanski's personal career as both an individual and an auteur.