What makes a work of art living? Its ability to withstand the changes of time- its relevance in perpetuity, which is precisely what makes Ava DuVernay’s interpretation of Madeleine L’Engle’s timeless novel, A Wrinkle in Time so spectacular. It is refreshing, innovative, and most significantly, it speaks to the core values of family and love that remain relevant in today’s changing social atmosphere.
The movie, much like the novel, follows the journey of Meg Murry- an awkward teen troubled by the mysterious absence of her father.
With the help of three fairy-like guides, Ms. Whatsit, Ms. Who and Ms. Which, Meg, her younger brother Chris Wallace, and a school friend Calvin find themselves traveling through time and space searching for Meg’s father, who went missing five years earlier while conducting research about space-time travel.
On the surface, the movie seems to parallel the novel fairly well, but only in broad strokes. The main elements of the novel: main characters, central plot and psychological development of Meg Murry are captured and articulated fairly well. However, there are many thematic divergences between the novel and DuVernay’s adaptation.
Discussions on the source of good and evil, for instance, which appear at length in the novel, are generally glossed over or missing in the film.
Noticeable influence of Christian themes in the novel, they too are almost undetectable in the movie.
Other, relatively minor details are also missing–that Meg, for instance, has two younger twin brothers, or that before saving Chris Wallace from the mind-control of the evil force called IT, the characters tesser to the planet Ixchel are entirely absent.
DuVernay’s interpretation still feels like the strange sci-fi world of L’Engle. The film captures the essence of what makes “A Wrinkle in Time” so distinct in its character, thanks to the breathtakingly erratic visuals and emphasis of simple themes of love and family.
This last bit is perhaps the most intriguing–the emphasis on love and family–and it is what makes the film (and the novel) a work of art.
While reading the novel, many people may have imagined the family as “white”. DuVernay’s adaptation seamlessly includes a much broader image of “the family”, one that is biracial and certainly much more diverse than some readers may have imagined. In doing so, she gently coaxes viewers into the image of the family of today.
Yet for all of these superficial differences, DuVernay beautifully captures the core theme, that love is love is love. It does not “wrinkle” as time does because love knows no boundaries. Our love is common, the same, and so shall it remain ad infinitum because love is, above all else, timeless.
