This amazing movie stays very faithful to the original novel. It has all of the characters. All of the characters have the exact employment, and the exact same relationships to each other as in the novel. The majority of the events of the novel are in the movie. Its very, very accurate...up to a point.
But the genius of the novel is how much it doesnt tell you. Through all of the diary entries and letters, all you ever get to know is limited by what the characters writing knew, and what they would be likely to honestly relate. Which of course means the real story must have been quite different. And of course, we get to know very little about Count Dracula himself. All we know is what Van Helsing THINKS he knows about vampires in general, and the count in particular. Which is next to nothing. Bram Stoker never tells us that vampires are undead, soul less demons. All he tells us is that Van Helsing, who has never even spoken to a vampire, think so. And because van Helsing is so overpowering, the rest of the group just fawn on him and lap up his every word, and of course confirmation bias does the rest. So when they see Dracula, they assume the worst every time.
But what was the real truth? If Dracula really had to kill someone every day, we wouldn't need the Clown Possy to hunt down Dracula. Scotland Yard, and everyone else would be screaming about the "New Jack the Ripper killing in the slums again!" and there would be a huge manhunt. But there was not. NOT ONCE is the police even marginally involved in any of it, which they certainly would be if Dracula went around killing people. The only time the police are involved is when Lucy starts biting children, none of whom are harmed. Harker testimony from the castle can be pretty easily ruled out because he is so alarmed by anything weird, that even if its harmless he would likely be screaming about demons. What we do know is this; If Dracula wanted to kill Harker, Harker would be dead. Yet Harker is not dead.
I feel like this movie tells you what REALLY happened all those years ago.
The only person we know to die is Lucy. And she dies after Van Helsing performs a medical procedure that would have killed anyone.
My undoubtedly favorite part of the movie besides the perfect Dracula by Oldman, is Van Helsing. NOT THE WISE Van Helsing WE ARE SUPPOSED TO ACCEPT. But a much more realistic one. What kind of a nutmeg would even admit he believed in vampires in Victorian England? And why did he have his own wife committed to a mental hospital? And whats up with his belief he knows all there is to know about vampires, when he has never even spoken to one at any length? What proof does van Helsing give for vampires being evil? If indeed vampires turned everyone they bit into vampires, and they needed to bite people to live, and vampires are immortal, there would be more vampires on Earth then an unchecked population of bunnies. So, Van Helsing CAN NOT be right for the most part. And how did Dracula become a vampire, with no vampire to make him vampire? Dont forget, the novel doesnt pretend that what we are being told is the whole story. Its just a bunch of letters and diary entries. So, anyone can decide however they want what was right, and what was just an opinion.
1 out of 3 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
Tell Your Friends