THE GOLDEN COMPASS

by Kevin Koehler

There are a lot of worlds, apparently.  Parallel universes.  Connecting all these worlds, these universes, is "Dust."  On Earth, souls live inside our bodies (putting aside all existential/theological questions about whether there is, in fact, a soul, or one that "lives" independent of the "shell" that is our body).  In the world of The Golden Compass, souls walk beside their human counterparts, taking the form of animal spirits called "daemons."  Daemons sometimes fight each other, as when those daemons materialize as animals that are natural enemies (ie: dogs and cats).  In other cases the people are evil, thus possessing aggressive, attack-minded daemon souls like snakes or Arctic snow leopards (rather than, say, beagles).

A tyrannical ruling class known as "the Magisterium" reign over all with an authoritarian, quasi-religious flair (wearing black robes and medallions and such).  Threatened by any beliefs that are not their own, they have destroyed all known soothsaying devices called "alethiometers" (aka: "golden compasses"); these contraptions are able to divine truth ("the secrets at the heart of things") if you know how to use it correctly.  One alethiometer has survived, however, and it just so happens to have fallen into the hands of the one person who can read it, a young orphan girl named Lyra (played by newcomer with precious child-actor-name Dakota Blue Richards) whose daemon changes in manifestation as the daemons of children often do.  It's what they call "a metaphor" - the supposed rigidity of adulthood versus the malleability of adolescence.  This raises more existential/theological questions about the soul (can the soul truly exist if it is inconstant?) but once again we'll just let those rest.  Lyra is supposed to conceal the existence of the compass but ultimately shows it to everyone and everyone, without consequence.

The Magisterium have also forbade the very mention of Dust; it's a topic they take very seriously.  Indeed, Lyra father-figure Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig) narrowly avoids death by poisoned wine when he reveals his grand discovery: Dust flowing into a man through his daemon while standing at the magnetic North Pole, in the Kingdom of the Ice Bears, from a city in another world.  I'm not sure why the Magisterium feel so imperiled by the knowledge of this fabled Dust, or by the existence of other worlds, except that these worlds exist outside of the authority of the Magisterium.  I don't think I'm supposed to know (perhaps the reason is revealed in the final chapters of the Philip Pullman-book on which this film is based, which were excised from the adaptation).  It is, as they say, "a mystery."  There are hints this and other questions will be answered in sequels; quite presumptuous given how truly horrible The Golden Compass is.

For the most part, everything we've talked about thus far is what is known in filmmaking circles as "exposition," which writer-director Chris Weitz chooses to shoehorn his film with to the breaking point, leaving little room for anything resembling a human being, logic, or an coherent plot, though plenty of time is spent fetishizing computer generated set design and poorly-rendered talking animals (it's worth noting Chris Weitz, novice to big budget productions like this, went this one without frequent filmmaking collaborator/brother Paul, though frere gets an executive producer credit).

Yet despite the glut of backstory (or perhaps because of it), one still gets the feeling much was left out - the picture remains, relatively-speaking, incomprehensible.  Some playground chums of Lyra are being kidnapped in order to have operations separating them from their zoological souls.  Why?  Who the fuck knows?  Tune in to the next episode to find out.  Characters (like Eva Green's Serafina Pekkala, Clan Queen of the Witches of Lake Inari... yawn) are introduced for no seeming purpose except to serve as third act deus ex machina, opportunity for CGI excess, and to establish their existence for sequels one now has diminished desire to see.  More thought seems to have went into providing grist for future films that have not been made than the film that was.

Interesting footnote: Author Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy (of which Northern Lights/The Golden Compass servers as the opening segment) has provided controversy per its not-so-veiled critique of certain religious institutions.  Pullman characterized it thusly in a 2003 interview: "My books are about killing God."  Despite a virtual excising of its anti-relgious themes in the film adaptation, The Golden Compass still garnered a boycott call from the Catholic League; according to League president William Donohue, the film might inspire impressionable children to read Pullman's heretical novels.  "[Pullam] wants to denigrate Christianity" Donahue told Fox News.  "He wants to sell atheism to kids."  The Vatican newspaper l'Osservatore Romano called the picture "the most anti-Christmas film possible."

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