Boy Called Twist
- 2004 (2004)
Boy Called Twist, is a 2004 film that tells the story of a Cape Town street kid, based on Charles Dickens’ classic 1838 novel Oliver Twist. It was the first film directed by Timothy Greene. Fundraising for the film involved small donations from a thousand investors, leading to the longest Associate Producers listing in the history of cinema.[1]
Plot
Twist's mother dies in childbirth in the middle of nowhere. Fearing blame, the locals bury her in an unmarked grave and drop the baby off at a rural orphanage, where he is named Twist.
Growing up in the dusty wastes of the Swartland, sold from orphanage into child labour on the farms, and later to a rural undertaker, Twist finally takes his fate into his own hands and escapes to Cape Town. Wide eyed at the wonders of the city, he falls in with Fagin - an ancient Ethiopian Rastafarian who runs a network of child thieves. His new friend Dodger teaches him the tricks of the trade, but the inexperienced Twist is caught trying to steal from Ebrahim Bassedien.
Although neither understand it, there is a strange affinity between this old man - who has lost his daughter - and the young boy who never knew his mother. Bassedien takes the little stroller in and for a moment it seems that the trauma is over - as the little boy encounters love for the first time in his short and brutal life.
Enter Monks - the only person who knows Twist's true identity. He is paying Fagin to keep the little boy marginalised. If he ends up in jail or dead on the street, so much the better, for Monks stands to lose his inheritance if anybody ever discovers that Twist is Bassedien's grandson.
The brutal gangster Bill Sykes, and his prostitute girlfriend, Nancy, steal Twist back for Fagin, and the struggle for a little boy's soul begins in earnest.
Release
18 November 2004.
Cast
Jarrid Geduld as Twist
Bart Fouche as Bill Sikes
Lesley Fong as Fagan
Kim Engelbrecht as Nancy
References
- ^ See the article "Timothy Greene" for details of fundraising for the film.
External links
- Boy called Twist official site
- Boy called Twist at IMDb
- Boy called Twist at AllMovie
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- Oliver Twist
- Bill Sikes
- Fagin
- Mr Brownlow
- Nancy
- Rose Maylie
- Monks
- The Artful Dodger
- Charley Bates
- Mr Sowerberry
- Mr. Bumble
- Oliver Twist (1909)
- Oliver Twist (1912)
- Oliver Twist (1912)
- Oliver Twist (1916)
- Oliver Twist (1919)
- Oliver Twist (1922)
- Oliver Twist (1933)
- Oliver Twist (1948)
- Oliver! (1968)
- Oliver Twist (1974)
- Las Aventuras de Oliver Twist (1987)
- Oliver Twist (2005)
- Manik (1961)
- Chitti Tammudu (1962)
- Oliver & Company (1988)
- Twisted (1996)
- Twist (2003)
- Boy Called Twist (2004)
- Twist (2021)
- Oliver Twist (1962 TV serial)
- Oliver Twist (1982 American-British TV film)
- Oliver Twist (1982 Australian TV film)
- Oliver Twist (1985 TV serial)
- Saban's Adventures of Oliver Twist (1996 TV series)
- Oliver Twist (1997 TV film)
- Oliver Twist (1999 TV series)
- Oliver Twist (2007 TV series)
- Oliver! (1960)
- "As Long as He Needs Me"
- "Consider Yourself"
- "Food, Glorious Food"
- "I'd Do Anything"
- "Oliver!"
- "Oom-Pah-Pah"
- "Where Is Love?"
- "You've Got to Pick a Pocket or Two"
- "Be Back Soon"
- Oliver! (soundtrack to the 1968 film)
- Escape of the Artful Dodger (2001 TV series retelling)
- Fagin the Jew (2003 graphic novel)
- Oliver and the Artful Dodger (1972 TV film)
- I'd Do Anything (2008 TV series)
- Dodger (2022 TV series)
- The Artful Dodger (2023 TV series)
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