“Where you tend a rose, my lad, A thistle cannot grow” (Burnett). Mary’s servant’s words were the motivation of Mary’s desire to allow Colin to be able to walk again—when Mary looks after Colin, he will be healthy and always well protected. This seemed impossible because according to Colin’s family doctor, Colin is too weak to be able to walk again. The Secret Garden is an adventurous and dictatorial book, which teaches us not only the beauty of nature but also teaches us the importance of not losing hope. The movie has successfully achieved the spirit “hope” of the novel through the use of narrative voiceover, mise en scene, and also by focusing on each characters.
“Even if the roses are dead, there are other things alive”. (Burnett). Mary’s words clearly show how optimistic Mary is, as she still clings on to hope for beauty even though she was exposed to ‘ugly’ sights. The spirit of the novel is shown in the movie through Mary’s voice-over narration. This narrative voiceover has allowed me to feel as though I was in a close relationship with Mary, as I could understand more about her through what she said, and through how she felt about different situations. For example, I initially believed that Colin, a crippled pessimistic young boy Mary meets in her uncle’s house, would never be able to walk, but as I watched the movie, Mary’s actions and words has influenced me so much that I started having hope in her. Throughout the movie, this voiceover narration shows how hope plays an important role in everyday life, because without hope, one will be like Colin, lying down on the bed, thinking about when life would be over for one. The director has further implied on “hope” through film techniques (mise en scene and editing).
Using limited dialogue, the director uses mise en scene to foreshadow Mary’s hope for changing Colin’s future of being able to walk again. Just through this one scene, when Mary Lennox sits in a caravan with her servant, there is an establishing shot of the entire caravan on the long skewed road it has to travel. The entire road, which leads to house, becomes brighter and bigger, creating a message of what’s waiting ahead for Mary— succeed in changing Colin’s future. This scene itself seems to foreshadow Mary’s journey: she will face a lot of troubles (represented by the skewed road), and she will have a long way to travel (the distance of the road), but she will not give up on hope, and achieve her goal (the house). The director has also used some editing to show how much Mary’s teachings as influenced Colin by placing scenes of Mary’s teaching and Colin’s efforts to follow what Mary says next to each other. After each day, there seems to be gradual improvements in Colin’s ability and attitudes towards him walking in a few months later. This then has increased our hope for Colin. However, this wasn’t the end. The director concluded by placing Colin in a bright lighting environment, which contrasts with his dark personality, showing that he is the dominant figure, like a God, who accomplished something that thought to be impossible. Through these mise en scenes and editing, I was able to know more about the tough journey she has to go through, but the movie itself has helped enhance Mary’s hope for Colin by focusing more on each characters.
The film has also captured the spirit of the novel by focusing on respective characters and their actions. Colin, for example, believed that he wouldn’t be able to walk. Just by the focus on Colin’s facial expressions and actions, I was able to notice Colin’s depression, and his pessimistic view towards his life. He would scream in the middle of the night, waking all the servants up, and cry to Mary about how he felt a hump in his spinal cord. But most importantly, the focus on Mary allowed me to notice Mary’s determination to change Colin’s attitude and future. Mary’s actions towards Colin were different from a simple scream—while stomping into his room, frowning and yelling “Someone stop him from screaming! You are so selfish! I’m not going into you’re room anymore!”. She then pushes him, touches his backbone, and does anything that would help Colin to think he will be able to walk. Gradual improvements in Colin through Mary’s actions captures the spirit of the novel, whereby when one doesn’t give up hope and continues supporting others, one will always be able to have a successful outcome.
The Secret Garden is indeed an inspirational movie, which unlike other movies and novels, was able to maintain the exact spirit of the novel. This film has successfully conveyed the spirit of the novel without any distortions of the content, and dialogue, but simply through focusing on the characters, using mise en scene, and with a narrative voiceover. Hope, as proven in both the novel and the movie, plays an important role everyday life, as it helps motivate one to have greater chances of succeeding in life.
