FILM SCREENINGS

Planet of the Apes

2001. USA. Directed by Tim Burton. Screenplay by William Broyles Jr., Lawrence Konner, Mark Rosenthal, based on La Planète des Singes by Pierre Boulle. With Mark Wahlberg, Tim Roth, Helena Bonham Carter. This adaptation of Boulle’s novel about humans in an ape-dominated world departs dramatically from Franklin J. Schaffner’s 1968 film version—so much so that it was coined a “reimagining” rather than a “remake.” Burton’s recurrent archetypes abound: his hero finds himself a misunderstood outcast among the native humans and their simian masters; and his ape ally Ari, a part of the established order who nonetheless calls for “human rights,” is a variation on the progressive women common in Burton’s films. 119 min.