The Girl with All the Gifts: Review

Director: Colm McCarthy
Cast: Gemma Arterton, Glenn Close, Paddy Considine, Sennia Nanua 


The Girl with All the Gifts is a penetrating dystopian drama whose plot maintains optimum tension throughout yet unravels seductively, little by little.

After a pandemic of cataclysmic proportions, humankind is spilt into two; the ‘hungries’ and the ‘friendlies’ – you can do the maths regarding which are blood-thirsty zombies and which are not. However, a beacon of hope arises in the form of a group of children of the ‘hungry’ persuasion, but with the bonuses of emotion and speech. One particular hybrid child outshines the rest on account of her pragmatic sensibilities and ostensible willingness to suppress her undead urges.

A capital example of the storytelling mantra ‘show, don’t tell’, this film gives wads of narrative explanation gradually, and satisfyingly, giving just enough information to tease the audience. We’re introduced to Melanie, the titular gift-possessing girl, who is schooled most unorthodoxly at an army base. She is unfittingly chipper, and disproportionately well-mannered to the soldiers that treat her much less so. Sgt Eddie Parks (Considine) is particularly unsympathetic, charmingly referring to the hybrid children as ‘friggin’ abortions’.

Miss Justineau (Arterton) is the teacher tormented by ethical insecurity, but she is the lone image of positivity in Melanie’s isolated world. Although she shouldn’t, she tells the children magical stories, a significant one being Pandora’s Box. Her growing affection for Melanie leads to a moment where Parks disciplines Justineau by brutally demonstrating the danger the children hold. Up to this point we have been kept in the dark about the children’s disposition. Glenn Close gives a first-rate performance as the ruthless Caldwell, hell-bent on finding a cure for the fungal disease. There’s an excellent scene in which Melanie chooses the number of her own cell for unknown doom at the hands of Caldwell.    

The majority of the film sees a Walking Dead-esque escapade featuring Melanie, Justineau, Caldwell, Parks and a few other soldiers seeking a safe place to dwell after the military base was sacked. The action is dynamite, albeit occasionally predictable, and although a zombie outbreak is nothing new, the dynamic characters give the theme a new-fangled glow. Parks’ bittersweet redemption, for example, comes stirringly but unsurprisingly, the conclusion to a perfectly composed character arc. Each character in this movie has that.

The Girl with All the Gifts intrigues with the moral questions it poses. Perhaps Caldwell’s demeanour is morose, but are her motivations that of an antagonist? All she seeks is the cure. The plot cleverly parallels the tale of Pandora, right up to the chilling ending that encompasses a terrifying image, along with the same glimmer of hope that was found in the box.   

MS