Never Let Me Go

This movie, Never Let Me Go, is one I truly wanted to see.  I had read about it, knew what the movie is about from reading reviews and a synopsis, looked forward to it.  I was not disappointed.  My problem is, now, how to review it for you without spoilers and without making you run in the other direction.

The movie is sad.  But not tearjerker, twenty tissues, honking, blowing noses sad.  The movie is based in a world very much like our own, but different.  At first, there are no discernable differences.  But it comes clear in the story line. 

It is the story of three people, raised together in an orphanage (or what appears to be so), in the English countryside.   We follow Kathy (Carey Mulligan, who is wonderful here), Ruth (Keira Knightley) and Tommy (Andrew Garfield) and their inter-relationship, how it forms and changes. 

Back to the story.  We are at a country orphanage/school for children.  Hints are dropped here or there.  The children must be sure to keep their bodies, including the insides, healthy.  The art work done by the children is routinely collected for "The Gallery".  Miss Lucy, "a guardian" comes to teach fourth grade and tells the children what their fate will be.  Needless to say, Miss Lucy is gone the next day.  Eventually, as young adults, they move to the outside world, to live in the Cottages with others like them.  Here, they await their fate and we learn a little more, some of which we never learn the answer to.  By now, the young people know what their destiny is, the purpose of their lives.

I liked the movie for its story, its cinematography, its choice of Carey Mulligan (loved her in "An Education").  Keira Knightley's performance reminded me a bit of Angelina Jolie's performance in "Girl, Interrupted" to tell the truth.  I was hoping for a bit better from her.  Makes me consider if she's reached her limits.  Andrew Garfield was great to watch, I haven't seen him in much yet.  Charlotte Rampling played the headmistress of the school and did a great job.  The ending, which I consider to take a while, consisting of a group of scenes involving various characters, I found very interesting.  There is some food for thought there.  The overall subject will not be a new one.  But it is one that will bear thinking about as time progresses and our moral codes come into play.