Journalism

Though somewhat sceptical, I chose to see The Bigger Picture out of curiosity of why it received such mixed reviews. I walked into the screening, observing all the other film critics while walking to my seat, many of whom looked like they would rather be anywhere else and others, convincing themselves that the film was going to be a good one. This stereotype based film reflects the citation, ‘Attempting to get at truth means rejecting stereotypes’, a moral I feel I only learnt after watching the film. In this black comedy of morals, we come to follow two opposing characters. We come to meet Edward, (played by Cameron Lark) a classy fellow who may come across as a stuck up, serious snob and Joseph (Jordan Luke), an all-round friendly chap with an approachable attitude. Watch as their paths entwine and their stories unravel as we come to realise that they’re not who you think they are. Joseph isn’t your ‘stereotypical’ young black guy and as reserved and poe-faced Edward may be, we come to see that he has a heart breaking story, allowing us to be aware that the situations explored in this film can happen to anyone, regardless of class or colour. I sat down with the director of the film, Evie Padmore to find out more about The Bigger Picture and how she managed to get the message across to the audience. Why did you decide to take this film on board? Society has become a place where people are judged by their looks, how they dress and what class they’re from. I’d say the story challenges that. I was given the story by scriptwriter Tom White. What intrigued me the most was the portrayal of the characters of whom show up the whole don’t judge a book by its cover stereotype. Was it challenging to portray the characters in a certain light? We had to show how the characters evolved and slowly reveal to the audience who they really were. From watching the film you’ll see that there is hardly any use of dialogue, an element we decided to use to simply focus on the characters. In a way, this purposely allowed the audience to judge Edward and Joseph. This inspiring film breaks stereotypes, challenges them and lets us to learn from them. The Bigger Picture is a film in which one can truly say don’t judge a book by its cover. This drama may leave you in occasional fits of giggles, but it also teaches an important moral than everyone can gain something from.