The Wonder review: Powerful acts by Florence Pugh and Kíla Lord Cassidy in this tale of religion vs science

3.5/5

Story: In 1896, the English nurse Mrs Elizabeth Wright (Florence Pugh) is hired for a two-week assignment in a quaint little village in Ireland. The assignment is to ‘watch’ an 11-year-old girl, who has apparently not eaten in four months, but appears to be in good health. The ‘watch’ is split between Elizabeth and a nun, Sister Michael (Josie Walker) in eight-hour shifts. The girl, Anna O’Donnel (Kíla Lord Cassidy), belongs to a devout Catholic family and the church is all but ready to anoint her a saint. It must be proven beyond a doubt, though, that Anna is not faking the whole thing – she claims she is surviving on manna from heaven - while the more scientifically-inclined want to know if there’s something more at play – magnetism, perhaps?

Review: The Wonder is the screen adaptation of a novel of the same name by Irish-Canadian author Emma Donoghue, whose earlier work, Room, became a multiple Oscar-nominated film. While Room was loosely inspired by the story of Josef Fritzl, who confined his daughter to a basement for 24 years and had multiple children with her, The Wonder attempts a fine-balancing act between science and religion, while also throwing in gender politics to good effect.

The book, and thereby the film, take inspiration from Ireland’s Victorian era fasting girls, who claimed to survive without food, finding ‘nourishment’ in prayer and from the power of saints. Whether the girls were frauds or miracles at play remains a debatable subject. The subject in Emma’s book and the film that has just come on Netflix is an 11-year-old girl, Anna, whose last meal was on her birthday, which also happened to be when she received holy communion. Four months since, Anna, is still in good health and spending her time mostly in prayer and meeting visitors who believe she is special. The residents of the devoutly religious neighbourhood want to believe in a miracle, but there are some sceptics too, who think there’s some foul play involved. A two-week watch by neutral parties is the solution.

Over the course of the watch, Elizabeth goes from being purely an observer to wanting to intervene for the good of the child, whose life she deems is in peril. But can she intervene, when her job is to only watch, especially after finding out the exact reason Anna stopped eating? Florence Pugh and Kíla Lord Cassidy are outstanding as Elizabeth and Anna and complement each other beautifully. That's not to discount the amazing supporting cast, including Ciaran Hinds, Tom Burke and Toby Jones, among others.  

Verdict: Religion and science are rarely a good mix; whichever side you choose, you end up offending the other. The Wonder takes a rather bold step here, in highlighting the dangers of religious fanaticism. The story is not extraordinary, but the telling is, aided greatly by great visuals and a fantastic background score.