# Chocolate War, The (1988)

### reviewed by
Bill Chambers

THE CHOCOLATE WAR ***1/2 (out of four) -a review by Bill Chambers; wchamber@netcom.ca

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starring Ilan-Mitchell Smith, Wally Ward, John Glover, Adam Baldwin based on the novel by Robert Cormier written and directed by Keith Gordon

The Chocolate War was my favourite book in high school-an expansion of Catcher in the Rye's first chapters, or Dead Poet's Society with sharper teeth, take your pick-so for years I feared the film version. Last week, I hunkered down before the set to bite the bullet at last; no matter how deviant the movie was, I could forever cling to the memory of that first read in tenth grade. The opening moments of Gordon's movie (he played the psycho-nerd in John Carpenter's weak Christine) put me at ease. This 1988 adaptation is not letter-faithful, but it does preserve the tone of its source material.

Smith stars as Jerry Renault, the new kid at Trinity, an all-boys Catholic school; he is fresh food for the Vigils, an underground student organization whose sole purpose is to drive teachers and students batty with complex practical jokes. Publicly represented by the snake-charming Archie (Ward, née Langham, who played Phil the head writer on "The Larry Sanders Show" and is barely recognizable here), the Vigils convince Jerry to refuse participation in the school's annual fundraiser-a chocolate sale-for ten days. At the end of his "mission," however, Jerry continues to say "no," causing much consternation for terrible Brother Leon (Glover), who reluctantly enlists the Vigils to help change Jerry's mind. Jerry, you see, has become a rebellious symbol at the school; overall sales have declined at a time when Trinity desperately needs the extra funds.

THE CHOCOLATE WAR is extremely low budget, perhaps to Gordon's advantage; often several chapters of the book are compressed into spontaneous, poetic montages. At times, his camerawork and direction of actors recalls the unpredictability of Cassavettes. Glover is pure malevolence, and Ward is outstanding--Gordon's revision of the novel wisely plants Archie at the forefront: Archie becomes a tragic figure all his own, an insecure weasel as powerless as Jerry, really. Just as we can't stop the inevitable death of our loved ones, we can't puppeteer those around us, either. THE CHOCOLATE WAR's religious setting is appropriate: by learning about God, perhaps the students and teachers can learn to be God. (The boxes of the chocolates even resemble bibles.) With this concept in mind, the movie's ending, which is quite a departure from the book, is more dramatically appropriate, logical, and truthful. And pitiful. Only Jerry is problematic: his introversion on paper was somewhat painful to behold, and his anti-conformity cathartic, but cinematically the character walks a fine line between shy and dull.

With a new-wave soundtrack featuring the likes of Yaz and Peter Gabriel, The Chocolate War is a hipper, meaner take on separate school life than most like pictures. It's also a multi-layered film this short review cannot do justice. I needn't have put off seeing it this long.

                                          -July, 1998

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