An apocalyptic film set in the near future, “The Girl with All the Gifts” is based on phenomenal word-of-mouth bestseller by M. R. Carey of the same title starring Glenn Close, Gemma Arterton, Sennia Nenua and Paddy Considine.
“The Girl with All the Gifts” is set sometime in the future where the majority of mankind has been the victim of a rapidly destructive infection. The fungus that causes havoc Special induce the human body to take control over the nervous system, and of those infected, that is starved quickly lose their personality, their own humanity and healthy people of meat to feed. The city is protected healthy living, or become guberálókká, that upon hitting dangerous gangs are trying to survive the situation. Meanwhile, a well-protected military base in particular children – including Melanie – are kept out of the reach of each other and testing their academics. They are also starved, however, retained their human qualities, in fact, extremely high intelligence. Scientists hope to help – or rather their use – manage to find the antidote against the devastating virus. Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair.
Gemma Arterton, known for her roles in “Clash of the Titans” and “Prince of Persia” stars as the optimistic teacher in a post-apocalyptic time in “She Who Brings Gifts” shares that the humanity of the story is what got her involved in the film, “I didn’t know it was a zombie film. I think I was just sent the script and a brief outline of what creative work had been done [so far], and that was it. So I just started reading it, and then the word ‘hungry’ came up, and I thought this is like a monster type thing. I guess they’re not like regular zombies. I could feel that it was a genre movie obviously, but it felt much more routed in reality. The scenes were very, very well written – there were heavy dialogue scenes, and not just loads of exposition and action. It felt like a proper, human story, and that’s what got me.”
The film’s director, Mike Carey enthuses on the merits of his latest film despite the previous zombie films in the past, “I think because of Melanie. I think the crucial difference is that this is a monster movie where the protagonist is the monster and we’re seeing things very much from the monster’s point of view. But she’s both a monster and an innocent, a little bit like in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, where the creature only becomes monstrous because he’s treated so badly by his creator. So it’s a film that tries to put you in the uncomfortable position of sympathising with the monster, the thing that is threatening humanity. There’s a sense that by the end of the movie there’s another candidate for that role, for the role of monster, apart from Melanie.”
“The Girl with All the Gifts” will open November 16 in cinemas from Pioneer Films.
