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| − | '''A Little Princess''' is a 1995 drama fantasy film directed by [[Alfonso Cuarón]], starring [[Liesel Matthews]], [[Eleanor Bron]], Liam Cunningham, and Vanessa Lee Chester. Set during World War I, it focuses on a young girl who is relegated to a life of servitude in a New York City boarding school by the headmistress after receiving news that her father was killed in combat. Loosely based upon the novel A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett, this adaptation was heavily influenced by the [[A Little Princess (1939)|1939 cinematic version]] and takes creative liberties with the original story. |
+ | '''A Little Princess''' is a 1995 drama fantasy film directed by [[Alfonso Cuarón]], starring [[Liesel Matthews]], [[Eleanor Bron]], Liam Cunningham, and Vanessa Lee Chester. Set during World War I, it focuses on a young girl who is relegated to a life of servitude in a New York City boarding school by the headmistress after receiving news that her father was killed in combat. Loosely based upon the novel [[Wikipedia:A Little Princess|A Little Princess]] by [[Wikipedia:Frances Hodgson Burnett|Frances Hodgson Burnett]], this adaptation was heavily influenced by the [[A Little Princess (1939)|1939 cinematic version]] and takes creative liberties with the original story. |
Due to poor promotion by [[Warner Bros.]], the film hardly made back half its budget. However, the film was critically acclaimed and given various awards, such as an Academy Award nomination for its significant achievements in art direction and cinematography, among other aspects of its production. |
Due to poor promotion by [[Warner Bros.]], the film hardly made back half its budget. However, the film was critically acclaimed and given various awards, such as an Academy Award nomination for its significant achievements in art direction and cinematography, among other aspects of its production. |
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Revision as of 15:09, 22 August 2013
A Little Princess is a 1995 drama fantasy film directed by Alfonso Cuarón, starring Liesel Matthews, Eleanor Bron, Liam Cunningham, and Vanessa Lee Chester. Set during World War I, it focuses on a young girl who is relegated to a life of servitude in a New York City boarding school by the headmistress after receiving news that her father was killed in combat. Loosely based upon the novel A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett, this adaptation was heavily influenced by the 1939 cinematic version and takes creative liberties with the original story.
Due to poor promotion by Warner Bros., the film hardly made back half its budget. However, the film was critically acclaimed and given various awards, such as an Academy Award nomination for its significant achievements in art direction and cinematography, among other aspects of its production.
Plot
In 1914, Sara Crewe loves her childhood home in India, but she has to leave it when her beloved father, Captain Crewe enlists to fight for the British in World War I. He enrolls her at Miss Minchin's Seminary for Girls in New York, the same school Sara's late mother attended, and spares no expense to make sure his daughter will be comfortable while he is gone.
Sara quickly becomes popular and well-liked by the other students, whose boring, mundane lives are made exciting by the wonderful stories from "The Ramayana" that Sara tells. The school's spoiled bully, Lavinia, becomes angry over Sara's increasing popularity. She often clashes with the severe headmistress, Miss Minchin, who attempts to stifle Sara's creativity and sense of self-worth. Sara attempts to befriend the school's African-American servant girl, Becky, but is told to avoid her. Miss Minchin throws Sara a lavish birthday party in order to extract more money from Captain Crewe. However, when word comes that Captain Crewe has been killed in battle and his estate has been seized by the British government, she forces Sara to become a servant. Miss Minchin also confiscates most of Sara's possessions, except for her favorite doll, Emily, given to her by her father before the war. Sara's belief that "every girl is a princess" is put to the limit and she stops telling stories. Her friendship with Becky grows and her other school friends sneak up to the attic to see her. Feeling sorry for her, Sara's friends decide to surprise her by stealing her locket back. Touched by this, Sara continues The Ramayana.
Meanwhile, in the mansion next door, a rich old man named Charles Randolph has recently received word that his son, John, also fighting in WWI, is MIA, resulting in his being relegated to a wheelchair. He is cared for by an Indian immigrant named Ram Dass who had traveled to America on the same ship as the Crewes. Ram Dass keeps an eye on Sara, knowing that she is a kindhearted girl. Mr. Randolph is called to a military hospital hoping an unidentified soldier suffering from blindess and amnesia due to exposure to poison gas is his son. However, the man is not. Ram Dass convinces Mr. Randolph to take the injured soldier in anyway, reminding him that the soldier may know what happened to John.
One evening, as Sara tells the girls a frightening tale of Ravana, the girls scream in terror and Miss Minchin finds them. She orders the girls to go back to their own rooms, and punishes Sara and Becky by denying them any food the next day. Miss Minchin then taunts Sara of still being a princess (believing it to be lie). But when Sara stands to her, and tells her that she and the rest of the girls were princesses: despite their miserable lives from "living in tiny old attics, dressing in rags and not being pretty, smart or young"; in frustration, she threatenly warns her she will be thrown out of the school, if she finds her with the girls again before storming out of her room, locking up both Sara and Becky and breaks down before leaving. To stay full rather than starve, Sara suggests to Becky that they eat a feast for the night before going to sleep. The two girls then pretend to have a banquet in the room as Ram Dass watches. The next morning, they wake up to find that the room has turned into a palace-like bedroom, with the same food they dreamed of eating the night before, courtesy of Ram Dass. Later in the night, Miss Minchin enters the room and accuses Sara of stealing everything (including her own locket). She turns her in to the police and the girls decide that Sara must try to escape. Using a plank as a bridge, Sara narrowly crosses from the school to Randolph's house. The police arrive and enter the house to find her, and to arrest Becky (for helping Sara escape) as well. In Randolph's house, Sara meets the soldier and realizes that he is Captain Crewe. He is unable to remember her however, even though she tries to remind him. Miss Minchin (who, the police, Ram Dass and Randolph, finds her with Captain Crewe, and realizes the reunion between father and daughter) tells the police that Sara has no family, though she clearly recognizes Sara's father. Just as she is being taken away by the police, however, Ram Dass helps Captain Crewe to regain his memory and rescue her.
The film ends with Sara, Captain Crewe, whose assets and fortune have been restored by the British government, and Becky all leaving for India together. Sara says goodbye to all of the girls and leaves them Emily as a present. Even the bullying Lavinia overcomes her jealousy and parts with Sara on good terms. Mr. Randolph learns of how Sara's father attempted to save his son's life in the trenches during the gas attack, and becomes the school's new headmaster. Meanwhile, Miss Minchin looks on, defeated and miserable, having been reduced to a chimney sweep, working for a boy she previously mistreated.