Alright so Florence Pugh’s latest movie The Wonder is now on Netflix, and no wonder
you clicked this because this psychological drama is a heck of a weird period piece.
But in this video we’re going to break down the story, explain that ending, the fourth
wall breaks, our reaction and review, along with touching on some themes and messages
cleverly tucked away in The Wonder.
Now if you enjoy the video, then hit that like button as it helps the channel, and allows
me to go one more day without food, ehhh I’m fasting here, and also don’t forget to subscribe
for breakdowns, recaps, and other videos like this everyday.
With that out of the way, a huge thank you for clicking this, I’m your host Jared,
now let’s get into the video.
Alright so a quick set up of the plot reveals Mrs. Elizabeth Wright, played by Florence
Pugh, is a nurse from England, who has been called to the secluded Irish countryside in
1862, nearly a decade after the great famine.
In doing so she, along with a nun, have been hired by a committee of elders in the town
to investigate a unique situation...
A young girl named Anna, who seemingly hasn’t eaten anything in nearly 4 months.
This oddity, some might even say a miracle, is at the center of the film.
Why hasn’t she eaten?
Does she not have to?
Is she a plant, and solely lives off of Chlorophyll now.
“More like Boreaphyll….right?”
With the elders calling in a nurse and a nun, it is this interesting dynamic between science
and religion, essentially one’s beliefs.
What do you BELIEVE is actually happening with this young girl, what story are you going
to take to heart?
Now this whole idea of belief is what almost everything in The Wonder is centered around.
Hell, even the opening, breaking the fourth wall moment, the narrator tells us this is
a movie.
To believe in the characters' stories with complete devotion.
We are nothing without stories, and we invite you to believe in this one…
Believe me, pun intended, but I was instantly confused by why they were showing the behind
the scenes workings of film production with this ethereal music.
However it instantly grabs you, allowing you to believe in what you want about this, everyone
has a story.
I know, a very snooty, “mmmm I went to film school” feeling behind it, but it instantly
tells the audience to believe, which you do because seconds later we’re right there,
immersed on a ship setting with Florence Pugh.
And the power of belief brings her to the committee, who believes that Anna is a miracle,
people traveling long distances just to see Anna believe, and Anna believes she is atoning
for something greater.
You get a belief, you get a belief, everyone gets a belief!!
I’m going to drop a bombshell on you, but uhhhh Anna is full of shit.
Though she and her family claim Anna has flourished for roughly 4 months, without a single piece
of food is straight up poppycock.
It’s revealed that her mother, when giving morning and goodnight kisses, essentially
baby birds food into her mouth.
Chews it up, and spits it right in.
Though sneaky, and tough to see, the belief of this miracle child, living off of only
the manna of Heaven is false.
This is only realized when Elizabeth prevents Anna’s parents from any sort of contact
with her.
Surprisingly cases like this are drawn directly from historical events.
Emma Donoghue, the best selling author of The Wonder, from which this movie is based
on, studied roughly 50 cases, with a majority of them relating back to religious practices
of penance.
Sure some of them were looked at as heroines of their time, religious miracles, like Anna’s
case here, but I’m gonna chalk it up as the first influencers of the medieval times.
Withe thout subsribith to thee Fans Only…
Anyway
The reason in doing so, again derives from belief.
Anna believes if she prays 33 times a day, Jesus’s basketball number, and she atones
aka fasts, that her late brother will be released from hell for what he has done, making his
way to heaven.
Now earlier, the family states that the brother went away and died during war, something Elizabeth
again believed.
But in reality he never left, instead fell ill, after he and Anna were married, assumed
with the parents blessing.
Anna called it double love, the love of a sister and a wife, so uhh believe me when
I say, that’s some pretty fucked up Sweet Home Alabama shit.
But Anna’s parents don’t care she is now slowly withering away, because they believe,
“there’s that word again” that in the process of losing a child, her atonement for
her brother’s sins, will allow both of them to enter heaven.
She even goes as far as saying this life is short, the next is eternity.
Her children WILL be in heaven.
Believing in something that isn’t entirely there, doesn’t fall solely on Anna, but
Elizabeth has stories of her own.
Earlier she mentions she is widowed, hinted at her husband dying during the war.
But before each night, she is seen taking some sort of liquid hallucinogen, showing
off tiny baby booties, and pricking her finger, drawing blood.
Another fact or fiction hint, as it’s later revealed she had lost her baby, and the husband
actually left.
This is her way of dealing with the heartbreak, and even a way of still feeling something
from the self harm.
In a sense, she doesn’t want to believe her reality.
Now at the end of things, Nurse Wright comes to the conclusion that Anna is going to die.
She’s tried everything, even shoving a feeding tube down her gullet, which was not a pretty
image.
But instead persuades Anna through a different narrative and the power of belief that has
been the common theme.
Anna can save her brother, while also being reborn as a 9 year old, before any of the
horrible events from her brother had happened.
The liquid hallucinogen dopes up Anna, taking her to the holy well, for an almost baptism
in a sense.
Nurse Wright watches over the death of Anna and the rebirth of her new identity, Nan.
I thought this was just a shorter version of Anna, but Nan actually means Grace.
And Grace in the Christianity means a couple of things:
“The spontaneous, unmerited gift of the divine favour in the salvation of sinners”
So Anna giving herself for the salvation of her brother.
“That of the nature of human depravity and regeneration” So through the perverted acts
of her brother, she fasted, and is now reborn as a new spirit.
And “that of the relation between grace and free will”.
Anna or Nan now, has the free will to live her own life.
This is seen at the end, where she’s adopted by Elizabeth and Will.
Both had lost their families, and instead now start anew.
Anna begins to eat again at the end of her own free will, something that was different
from the past 4 plus months she had been living before.
There is a final bit of the storytelling and belief themes, when Elizabeth has to meet
with the committee about what happened with Anna and the house burning down.
Though all of the evidence is very much against Elizabeth with her being the one who started
the fire, even though she claimed it to be an accident, and it’s odd that no remains
of Anna can be found.
The committee believes her story, pays her and allows her to leave back to England.
This is all closure for Elizabeth though, allowing the past of her husband and child
to burn away, and she like Nan is reborn with a new life.
Now with Will and Nan, sailing off to Sydney Australia to do whatever Austrailan’s do.
“Throw another shrimp on the barbie”
Before we wrap up, we gotta talk about the fourth wall breaks, and the questionable ending.
Obviously the opening of the movie is a behind the scenes look at this movie the raw set
of it all, with the Narrator urging us to believe the story.
Well the narrator is Niamh Algar (Neev-ah All-Gar) who also plays Anna’s sister Kitty.
And throughout the movie she mean mugs the camera a couple times, even reminding us “that
we are nothing without stories”.
Nan looks at the camera when registering her name on the boat, subtly hinting this is her
story, before ending with the same turn to set, break the fourth wall bit, with Algar
whispering In.
Out.
In.
Out.
This on the surface ties back to the thaumatrope (thaa-muh-trip) Anna is given earlier, of
a bird and a cage.
Is the bird free or is it trapped?
In.
Out.
In.
Out.
Meaning Anna was the bird, heck she was even being fed like a bird from her mother.
But this is her story, and she was able to get out of the abusive, manipulative religious
based situation she was trapped in with her family.
It's a miracle she is now free.
But if we blow this symbolism out to the real world, which I believe, ahhhhh see what I
did there, Niamh Algar (Neev-ah All-Gar) being dressed in modern clothing, shows us these
stories are happening today, in many different avenues, to many different people.
Not necessarily just religion-based scenarios.
And it is our job to believe in their stories, to allow them to no longer be trapped.
The Wonder really surprised me with the deeper meaning, I honestly thought it was going to
be solely a religion vs science anti Covid movie Haha.
Yeah, stupid I know, but they way they slowly held this carrot out, and allowed us to follow
the story, deciding who we should side with was so well done.
It’s both a period piece with a relevant message, but also a heck of a mystery, picking
up on slight details, and those clever fourth wall breaks
I thought Florence Pugh was fantastic, and really hit on the emotional beats of the story,
I love her work, and she killed it…
Ughhh well no, she saved the girl, but uhhhh, you know what I mean
Anyway I’d love to hear your thoughts on The Wonder and if you too grew up with your
parents baby birding food into your mouth, or if that was just me.
And I’ll let you know
We’re currently running a competition giving away 3 copies of House of the Dragon Season
1 on the 15th of December.
And all you have to do, to be in for a chance of winning, is like the video, make sure you
subscribe with notifications on, and drop a comment below with your thoughts on Andor.
We pick the comments at random at the end of the month, and the winners of the last
one are on screen right now.
So if that’s you, message me on twitter at heavy spoilers
If you want something else to watch, be sure to check out some of our other videos, our
1899 breakdown video is insane, you’ve gotta watch that show.
But with that out of the way, thanks for the constant support, I’ve been Jared, I’ll
see you in the next one, buh-bye now.
Buh bye…
Alright Peace.