Video of the Week--An Enemy of the People
RSSFrom SLJ January 2005
Vicki Reutter, Cazenovia High School, NY -- School Library Journal, 01/03/2005
videocassette. color. 90 min. (closed captioned). GlobalStage. 2004. ISBN 1-892045-10-9. $30.
Gr 5-9-This adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's 1882 play portrays a public-minded doctor's crusade to clean up the water that is polluting the popular public baths in her small town. Certain that the unfavorable publicity would cause an economic crisis, the mayor demands that the doctor, his sister, retract her statements to the press. An embroiled community sides together, as the moral majority, against the doctor who refuses to stray from her convictions and she becomes an "enemy of the people." This production for children adds farcical and comic elements to a serious drama. Selected characters are women unconvincingly dressed as men, wearing ill-fitting wigs and beards. Their exaggerated voice changes and facial expressions are far from subtle, but will hold viewers' attention and help younger students grasp the complexities of municipal politics in the late 1880's. Period costume and indoor and outdoor settings depict a cold northern area, dependent on visitors to their spas for economic prosperity. The ending shows the doctor as pariah, imparting the final words, "The strongest person in the world is the one who stands most alone." Dialogue has been judiciously abridged, and Ibsen's Dr. Stockman is cast as a woman instead of a man. Her performance is heartfelt and students will identify with her idealism and passion for an environmental cause. This video makes Ibsen's work accessible to middle grade students.
