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Film Review
Beware of 'Nim's' rugged individualism
There are few girls who have a stronger imagination than Nim Rusoe, the central character in a family film that hit theaters earlier this month.
“Nim’s Island” (Walden Media), based on the popular children’s book, takes audiences to an isolated island in the South Pacific where a young girl (Abigail Breslin) and her father live in peaceful isolation.
The cute family film is entertaining throughout, but contains a handful of questionable messages.
Nim’s father Jack Rusoe (Gerard Butler) studies and writes about the volcano on their island. Meanwhile in San Francisco, the author of Nim’s favorite adventure book series, Alexandra Rover (Jody Foster), is too scared of the world outside her home to even get the mail.
The author contacts Nim’s father, Jack, to ask about a volcanic situation she has written her character into, but gets an e-mail returned from Nim instead.
Jack is lost at sea. Believing Rover is a great male adventurer, Nim tells the author of her father’s predicament. Nim is shocked when the actual author Alexandra Rover shows up on her island.
Nim also spends a great deal of the film defending the island from a cruise ship that wants to make her island home a vacation destination.
While creative and engaging, “Nim’s Island” offers no more than what’s expected from a typical family film. The heroine is kind, with an affinity for animals. The father is equally nice and everything seems to be generally average. However, under the surface a few troubling concepts brew.
Courage is not a virtue people have, according to the film, but a decision people make. Not a bad message at first glance. However, this courage translates into an exaggerated independence that is more damaging than liberating.
Nim’s father leaves his young daughter alone on the island at her insistence. She argues with him like an adult and he applauds her debating skills.
This adult-child relationship is further convoluted by Nim calling her father by his first name, Jack. It seems that courage demands independence and this independence creates an environment in which an 11-year-old thinks she is an adult.
Nim has a false sense of confidence and therefore puts herself into precarious situations — without negative consequence.
Furthermore, this courageous independence causes Nim to desire to defend her island from any other visitors. The value of individualism is a growing cultural trend and Nim’s devotion to it is subtly applauded.
Pope Benedict XVI has warned against “dangerous individualism that does not care what the future has in store” when addressing the issue of a decreasing fertility rate throughout Europe. Concerned that this individualism will lead to a devaluing of human life, the pope would surely be disturbed by the subtle messages of “Nim’s Island,” where the few people she does come into contact with are quickly driven away by her clever tactics.
That said, the above-the-surface themes of the film are generally family friendly and kid-appropriate. It is a film that may require some thoughtful family discussion after viewing for older children, but there is nothing overtly damaging in “Nim’s Island.”
Rebecca Bostic is a regular contributor to The Catholic Sun. Comments are welcome. Send e-mail to letters@catholicsun.org.
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