Giver, The
Entry updated 15 June 2026. Tagged: Film.
US film (2014). Walden Media. Directed by Philip Noyce. Written by Michael Mitnick and Robert B Welde, based on the novel The Giver (1993) by Lois Lowry. Cast includes Jeff Bridges, Katie Holmes, Cameron Monaghan, Thabo Rametsi, Odeya Rush, Alexander Skarsgârd, Meryl Streep, Taylor Swift, Brendon Thwaites and Emma Tremblay. 97 minutes. Initially black and white, later colour.
A future Post-Holocaust society has chosen to deprive its citizens of Music, colour vision, and knowledge of human history, and administers Drugs to diminish emotions, as ways to maintain social order; but there is always one designated citizen, called the Giver, who retains these powers and memories to advise the Elders, who control the society and assign young people to professions based on their assessments of their abilities. A young man, Jonas (Thwaites) has been designated by the Chief Elder (Streep) to be the next Giver, and so he begins to receive instructions and memories from the current Giver (Bridges). Jonas then finds that he can see colours, as the film shifts from black-and-white to colour. Among other troubling things, Jonas learns that this society regularly euthanizes people regarded as undesirable, and that the previous youth designated as the next Giver, the Giver's daughter Rosemary (Swift), requested euthanasia because she could not handle all of the depressing information about the past that she was absorbing. There is also some drama involving an infant, Gabriel (played briefly by four different actors), who has the potential to be another Giver but is scheduled to be executed, so Jonas and his girlfriend Fiona (Rush) must rescue him. While Jonas is disturbed enough by his new-found knowledge to consider abandoning his role, he decides instead that he must leave the community, which will have the effect of releasing memories and colour vision to the entire community. In escaping, he is assisted by Fiona and opposed by a former friend, Asher (Monaghan), and his own mother (Holmes). But he ultimately succeeds in leaving the confines of his community with Gabriel, and they make his way in the snow to a house where people are singing Christmas carols, an indication that he will be welcomed into a warmer new world.
Lowry's admirable novel describes a Dystopian society with severe restrictions that nevertheless do not seem evil in intent and might even be defensible, as a system to prevent another disaster like the unspecified one that destroyed modern civilization; it might also reflect the growing perception that young people are unusually vulnerable and must be protected from all unpleasantries. Predictably, though, the screenwriters eliminated all of the novel's nuances to portray a government of moustache-twirling villains, determined to oppress its citizens in innumerable ways. Still, one of its aspects that might upset some viewers – the fact that all citizens are constantly under surveillance – does not seem to bother anyone in the movie, reflecting the growing acceptance of such scrutiny in contemporary times. The film is also one of the first to depict the use of drones, which are deployed in efforts to prevent Jonas's escape. [GW]
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