Search - Silas Marner, The Weaver of Raveloe on DVD

Ann M.
Reviewed on 7/26/2010...

This screenplay version of the book is true to the original story. Because of that, it may seem like a slow movie. But I really enjoyed it. Partly because it IS true to the book, which BTW, was a wonderful book.

It's about a man named Silas Marner who, as a young man, was very involved with his community and church, was newly engaged, and generally a well-liked man. However, he has a mild form of epilepsy in which he would blank-out while standing, his eyes opened, but not truly conscious. In a serious of unfortuneate events in which church funds were stolen right under his nose while he was in one of his epileptic states, he was accused of being the thief, all the while it was his own childhood friend who was guilty. He was excommunicated from the church, dumped by his fiance, and basically disgraced.

The injustice thrusted on him made him bitter, and he left the town and settled in another where he became a workaholic weaver. He isolated himself and avoided all relationships. He amassed a whole lot of gold from working so hard, in which he was one day robbed. It seemed nothing went right in his life.

He was robbed by a local nobleman who had squandered all he had at his disposal, and who owed his brother money. In his drunken state, he fell and drowned in a local pond along with the money. Meanwhile, his elder brother was wooing a respectable lady, but had his own skeletons in his closet. He was already married to a drug addict and had a young daughter whom he planned to keep hidden. During a Christmas party, his addict wife planned to crash the party but died in the snow in route. Her daughter wandered into the home of Silas Marner.

I keep watching this movie over again because of this part. The part where Silas found the girl, and she became the embodiment of recompensation of all his loss and injustices. She was the gold he lost, but much more. It was endearing to see an old bachelor dolt on this little orphan (or he thought). His life became happy. Meanwhile, the elder nobleman allowed this charade so he could marry this lady. Years later, they found they could not have children. There's more, but you'll have to watch it. Wonderful story.