Read The Book Then Watch The Movie

When you go to watch a movie that precedes a book, you expect it to be different. It’s impossible to condense a book into a movie and some parts are inevitably left out. Films are often sensationalised; themes are added and spiced up with romance. Directors generally like the ending to tie into a unified, if not happy, ending. That’s what the audience expects.

I was pleasantly surprised when I saw Tomorrow – When the War Began. Known to cringe at the Aussie accent and our often weak and stereotypical characters, I went away from When the War Began, proud of eight young Australian under-30 actors. Impressed that the issues explored in the book were not overlooked or diluted.

The film tightly followed John Marsden’s story about World War III in Australia and the consequences for a group of teenagers who avoid capture. It cast characters well and tackled the way in which teenagers deal with disaster and war in a sensitive and sometimes oddly humorous way. The portrayal of Chris as a ‘pot head’ and his fascination with the dog: “woof, woof,” was a L.O.L moment. There are also jokes about Ellie’s (main character and narrator) driving. They make you smile because they have just smashed their way through soldiers’ buggies and line of fire in a humble garbage truck. You could question the realism of the situation, but war in your own backyard would be so unrealistic for any teenager that military-like behaviour and survival instincts kicking-in could be a realistic response.

In the book, the impact of war and desertion was carefully explained with empty houses, dead animals, rotting food, burnt out streets, deserted restaurants and the ominous roar of planes and helicopters. All this was amplified in the movie.

There were only a few occasions when I thought, “that didn’t happen in the book.” This creative licence was mainly used to build impact with soldiers nearly capturing or shooting them, when perhaps it didn’t apply to that particular scenario in the book, such as the petrol tanker acquisition.

Marsden also leaves it up to the reader to decide on the origin of the attackers. I assumed the aggressors were Eastern-European or from a country we never knew existed because Marsden mentioned their unrecognisable language. However, the film typecast them as Asians. I question whether Marsden implied this because he mentioned in the book that they spoke in a foreign ‘unrecognisable’ tongue. An Asian dialect would still sound familiar to Australians even if you didn’t understand what was being said.

Just like you can’t judge a book by its cover, don’t judge this movie because it poached its actors from Neighbours and Home & Away. I rate this movie as a 7.5 out of 10 for creating a similar impact that the book has on the reader and not steering too far from the original story. It definitely explores the ‘What If?’ and generates a lot of discussion as the credits roll.