Wondrous Oblivion
Who is this movie for? If you are a savvy, adult cinema buff, you will probably find Wondrous Oblivion (2003/2006) boringly stereotypical. But if you are in your early teens, you may well enjoy it—I know I would have all those years ago.
Wondrous Oblivion is stereotypical because it is a coming-of-age story where a boy learns all the right life lessons from an appropriate mix of people. Even though David Wiseman (Sam Smith) and his family suffer anti-Semitism in the early 60s in their South London row housing, it is not bad, and you know it will not be serious. Even though the new neighbours from Jamaica experience racism, and even though the racism turns nasty, the white neighbours pull through in the end. Even though cricket-obsessed David is hopeless on the pitch, the Jamaican father next door is an excellent coach, and David makes the private school boy’s cricket team. It’s that kind of a movie.
Dennis, the father next door, is a wonderful teacher. He emphasizes inclusion, fun, and sound technique. When Dennis is teaching his daughter in the back yard and David appears for the first time in his gleaming white cricket gear, Dennis invites him, without a pause, to join them. When it immediately becomes obvious that David doesn’t have a clue how to bat or how to bowl, Dennis, with a glance at his talented daughter, Judy (Leonie Elliott), invites David for regular coaching. Instruction is simple and direct, followed by lots of practice. Sometimes the practice is high-spirited fun, as in one speeded-up scene set to wild klezmer music. Beyond being a good teacher, Dennis is a good role model. Although you might not know it from the current crop of movies, there are men out there who hold regular jobs, are good fathers, loyal husbands, and stalwarts of their community. Not perfect by any means, Dennis is still a response to the declaration that the greatest problem in America today is the lack of real fathers.
But what young David learns and how he learns it do not withstand serious scrutiny. David learns that his real friends are Dennis and his daughter, Judy, and the Jamaican community, and that more wealthy white people, such as those at his school or in the North London neighbourhood where his family is going to relocate, are hypocritical, etc. This is because Dennis’s family readily accepts David and works on his weaknesses and encourages his talents, while at school the boys hypocritically change from ridiculing him when he cannot play cricket to championing him when he becomes a good batter. But there are a couple of things amiss with this scenario. First, there is nothing wrong with a bunch of 11-year old athletes telling an oblivious kid that he is not a good cricketer; and there is nothing wrong with those same boys accepting him on the team when he is a good cricketer. It is a different and important kind of friendship. Second, Dennis and Judy are not unconditional friends, either. David loses their friendship at his birthday party, and it is a dodgy situation. All the boys from the prep school cricket team have been dropped off by mothers and the boys are having a great time in the living room, when Judy knocks on the front door with a present and hopes of joining the party. David says thanks but no thanks. Who wouldn’t!? She had not right to arrive at a birthday party uninvited and expect to be asked in to join a dozen rowdy boys. Then her family closes ranks and ostracizes David as if he was a racist or a traitor. If you are a critical-thinking adult, this will bother you as yet another weakness in the movie. If you are in your early teens, you probably won’t be thinking that perspicaciously about Wondrous Oblivion, and the good acting and ready lessons will carry the day.