The film Mr. Pip, directed by Andrew Adamson is about a black 14-year-old girl called Matilda. Matilda lives on the Island of Bougainville, with her Mother Dolores. The island is the main island of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville of Papua New Guinea. This film allows us to gain an insight on the true event of the Bougainville blockade. In 1988 Papua New Guinea proposed a blockade of Bougainville, as they wanted to starve the rebels of means and wanted to retain control of the island. The Rebels are the Bougainvillean Men and Adolescents who are trying to fight the red skins, which are the Papua New Guinean army. The rebels have made their own artillery of guns and sharp objects, all from nature and the copper mine that is situated on the island.

Mr. Watts the only white man left on the island notices that the children need a distraction from all the war and fighting so he brings the book Great Expectations into their lives. The school was all set up again and everyone, especially Matilda likes the book. Matilda had a deep and meaningful connection with the main character, Pip character in the book. Through with literature, she escapes into a better place, the place being in the Dickenson era with Mr pip. Unlike Matilda Dolores, her mother despises the book as she is very religious and live by the bible. The main reason she hates it is because she believes her daughter is being brainwashed by the white man, and learning white ways instead of their culture and traditional way on the island. Due to this Dolores steals the book and this ultimately leads to the death of Mr. Watts and herself.

The one thing that this film teaches us about the world today is that we are able to expand our minds and lose ourselves through the words in literature. Now theses days we are able to jump onto our music playlist or on social media if we feel uncomfortable in an awkward position or if we don’t like the situation we are in. the portals of ‘escapism’ is needed in day to day life and everything isn’t in everyone favor, so if you are angry or upset you can transport yourself to a better place through literature, music, internal and social media.

This is great for me, as I am in year 12 and there is a lot of pressure riding in my to pass and my older sister has, and I need to finish school to get into my wanted course at university. When I am flustered with much intense to be handed in, or when I am stuck I get angry and I haven’t finished it yet. So to calm myself down I take a 10-minute break to focus on cementing else. I normally go on my phone or get something they eat or drink. By doing this I am able to clear my head of all the negative thoughts or me not being able to finish this. We sit back down I am focused and in a head space of writing. With out have outlets that we are able to take our minds off of, we were a population would become stressed and anxious. This could cause many problems within a society which is unwanted.

This film ‘Mr. Pip’ makes me reflect on my life is a way that thankful. Living in New Zealand we all have gratitude and be grateful. this is because we have no wars of killings, which allows us to live our lives to fullest instead of living it in fear. An example of living is fear is in Syria. Many wars have taken place there killing thousands and just recently the Russians have bombed the ISIS facility. ISIS is a world known terrorist organization who have taken many innocent lives, just to prove a point of ‘Blessing our flag so it covers all eastern and western extents of the Earth, filling the world with the truth and justice of Islam and putting an end to the falsehood and tyranny of Jahiliyyah [state of ignorance], even if American and its coalition despise such.’ they have said that they will not stop terrorizing and killing people until they seize the land and until we bless their flag and culture. So in New Zealand, we are free from this war and violence unlike other countries around the world. Every day we have to be grateful to call this place home because if we don’t something awful can happen just like in Syria.

I would definitely recommend this film as it is one of those rare movies with a fulfilling, yet thought-provoking ending. Us as the viewers learn from these mistakes of the Blockade in hope that its history doesn’t repeat itself again.