A Wrinkle in Time: My Take on the book plus a Behind the Scenes Featurette #book2movies

I haven’t read A Wrinkle in Time since the sixties, the decade the Madeleine L’Engle classic was released, 1962 to be precise. Having re-read it now, I have a feeling I might not have actually read it then. I would have been nine or ten at the time and while I would certainly relate to Meg’s feeling of being an outsider, stupid, and ugly in my super-sized glasses—glasses so thick and high in their magnification they made me look and feel like a bug—I would not have been a fan of all that painful tessering Meg had to do. Come to think of it, maybe I did read it. I do remember writing a short story for a school assignment about a girl who slips down beneath a pool of water into another world, another dimension, one full of swaying, psychedelic colors. Not that they used the word psychedelic that early in the sixties. Once there, it was difficult for the girl to get back home. Derivative? Definitely.

It’s interesting how the book is promoted as science fiction though, when it’s most clearly about faith. In fact there are some lines that are quite heavy handed in the religion department. For a book which embraces as much science this one does, the author also endeavors to explain a fundamental question of the existence of God. If he exists, how can he let bad things happen without intervening? Mrs. Whatsit makes the point that human lives are like a sonnet with its rigid structure.

‘But within this strict form the poet has complete freedom to say whatever he wants, doesn’t he?’ pg 219

 and later on the same page

‘You’re given the form, but you have to write the sonnet yourself. What you say is completely up to you.’

And, of course, the overarching theme of the book is the power of love to overcome evil. In fact, only the power of love, can do that. As much as I bristle at the inherent Christianity, there is no denying the impact of the lesson of love and compassion for the young readers (nine and up) the book is intended for.

Meg, Charles and Calvin in Camazotz

“The houses in the outskirts were all exactly the same.’’

Reading A Wrinkle in Time at my ripe old age, I find I love the children, Meg and her lovely little brother Charles (before he changes), their friend Calvin, the three Mrs: Mrs. Who with her endless quotes —Mindy Kaling in the movie—Mrs. Whatsit (Reese Witherspoon) with her crazy looking pile of scarves and hats layered over her comforting, maternal presence and Mrs. Which (Oprah) with her imperious, all-knowing manner. Although to be honest, I found Mrs. Which’s dialogue with its repeated letters tedious. Vis a vis her first line in the book:

‘‘Alll rrightt girrllss. Thiss iss nno ttime forr bbickkerring.’’

Newcomers Storm Reid and Deric McCabe play Meg and her bright little brother Charles Wallace, with Levi Miller as Calvin. In the book, the parents bookend the kid’s adventure, not a lot more than supporting players. We’ll have to see if Chris Pine and Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Mr. and Mrs. Murry have more to do in the movie.

Take a look at this behind the scenes featurette. 

The costumes are much more fantasy sci-fi based than I pictured them in my imagination, but that’s probably more my lack than the movie’s. Have director Ava Duvernay & her cast nailed the characters?

A Wrinkle in Time opens March 9 in the US.