A Healing Extension of Writing Therapy

Rating: 8/10 (21 February 2014)

I am always fascinated by really life stories. Saving Mr Banks is more than what I expected: it skilfully meshes a few stories together on the same theme â€“ fatherly love to his children x 3; the power of imagination x 3; go after your dream x 2.
The main story line is how Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) and his team work with British writer P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson) to put her popular children's book Mary Poppins onto the silver screen. Disney, as a promise to his daughter, has been negotiating with P.L. Travers for over 20 years for her approval. Travers has not been willing to give it away but softened because she is financially challenged. So naturally she wants to have final say in writing the script.
While Saving Mr Banks is pleasant, enjoyable and entertaining, there is a certain kind of heaviness which keeps me intrigued until the deal is finally settled. I like this movie very much because it is so rich and so nicely crafted. I can see the whole production pays a lot of respect to the writer and those who do creative work. To work with artists, we really need a lot of patience.
To pave the background of how Travers has evolved into today's state, we see seamless flashbacks of Travers in Australia when she was a little girl and how her father (Colin Farrell) encouraged her to dream and travel in her world of fantasy. A frustrated bank manager, Travers' father had his own problems which Travers tried but was unable to solve. Perhaps this helplessness has turned into her hang-ups thereafter.
Along the line we see excerpts of Mary Poppins, both in text and rehearsals, which also intertwines with Travers' memory of her father and the final Disney movie.
Very rich content with detailed depiction of the main characters and their emotions. Excellent direction and storytelling skills by images. Even though there are three of four stories lines, I am fully engaged and never feel confused. I enjoy looking at what is happening while wondering how the past affect the present and future. The artistic direction is great as it threw in lots of cues to link the different stories so it is also like watching a detective story.
Emma Thompson plays perfectly the role of a rigid, frigid, cold, tensed and vulnerable PL Travers. Although we constantly see the flashbacks and how her past haunts her present, there still is a lack of connection on how the lovely and imaginative girl would evolve into such an distrusting, demanding and difficult person.
Tom Hanks is moving when he is seen flying personally to London (even though it did not happen in real life) to track Travers down and unlock her hang-ups with the past by exposing/sharing his own unflattering past in earnest sincerity, teary-eyed. Both characters have a difficult childhood. Both bring happiness to millions of kids after they grow up, perhaps as a kind of compensation and healing? But then why did one develop into an optimist and the other a nagger who became so harsh on herself and everyone around her? This is perhaps an issue we need to ponder.
It is a great piece for parents/teachers/adults to watch because we might never realize how even a tiny gesture/word of ours could have immense affect (constructively or destructively) on our children/next generation. Quite a rich movie to munch on and gives you more hope on humanity.
Very meticulous research done. I particularly enjoy the end of credits where the actual tapes of PL Travers are played and we can really feel her nitpicking. Emma Thomson nailed it right there! Also running along the credits are archive pictures of the real PL Travers and Walt Disney. Valuable history.
Cannot wait to see Mary Poppins which I have not seen before. Knowing the background of the author, it probably helps to appreciate this award-winning picture that snatched five Oscars in 1965 after going through a lot of hardship to be put on the big screen. After all, it represents an extension of a girls' love for her beloved father and she has been healing herself by writing, something her father had always encouraged her to do.