Charles Dickens' novel "Oliver Twist" has suffered through many translations; everything from musicals to period pieces to an animated Disney retelling. Because of this, the idea of a modern update of the story doesn't necessarily sound appealing. Indeed, I watched this movie sight-unseen and I had no idea it was even supposed to be a retelling of Oliver Twist until I was halfway through the movie. So trust me when I say it holds its own. Apart from being the story of a young man named Dodge who lives with a group of kids under the care of an older man who encourages them to break the law in order fr the entire group to survive, the movie doesn't bear much similarity to the source material. This Dodge isn't an orphan, some of his family is still alive, he just chooses to live apart from them due to a lot of factors, not the least of which was his horrible childhood. Dodge lives with a group of other teens working as prostitutes under the care of a kindly pimp, and their living space has the air of a loving family like most of these kids never had.

Nick Stahl does a great job with his performance as Dodge in this movie. It's nuanced and deep. On the one hand, he tries to maintain a cool air of detachment as though he doesn't care about his surroundings or his situation, on the other he has pent-up rage bubbling under the surface and the audience knows it's going to explode at some point, and of course it does. The catalyst for Dodge's impending explosion is his meeting with a man named Oliver, whom he convinces to join the gang of male hustlers. Oliver is young, inexperienced, and naive. Dodge is frustrated by Oliver's inexperience as it is a sign of weakness and it reminds Dodge of the boy he was before he honed his cool, uncaring facade.

We get the sense that Dodge recognizes this and that his detached persona is something he had to create in order to cope with the details of what his life has become, not the least of which is his spiraling addiction to heroin. Not to mention that Oliver soon develops a crush on Dodge, which given Dodge's obvious affection for the boy a painful turn as he fights to maintain his distance as he's forced to watch Oliver's innocence peel away as the weeks wear on and not only is Dodge forced to come face to face with his own past he realizes his culpability in Oliver's transformation from a wide-eyed innocent runaway to a depressed, drug addicted street hustler. We never see the young innocent Dodge, when we meet his character he is already a jaded and cynical street hustler, but we get a glimpse at what his past might have been through the character of Oliver. Unlike the original Oliver Twist, this movie doesn't truly become Oliver's story until the end of the movie when his life melds with Dodge's and we see the truth that has been eating at Dodge all along: the two young men are essentially the same.

But Dodge doesn't want Oliver to become what he has become; despite his lies to himself that he is happy where he is in life because he has broken free from the constraints of his past, it becomes clear throughout the course of the film that he hasn't escaped and he isn't happy where he is now, and his guilt at what he has done to Oliver eats away at him even more when the boy looks up to him and wants his attention and affection. It's almost like he wants Oliver to hate him as much as he has come to hate himself. The conclusion to this story is inevitable from the beginning, but viewers come to like the characters so much throughout the course of the movie that even though we know it's coming we don't want to see it happen. Nick Stahl is just phenomenal in this movie. He should only be in independent films, period. He's spectacular in a way that his appearances in big-budget films can't touch.

This movie suffers from its association with Oliver Twist. That seems like a strange statement, but it's true. The movie is so far removed from the source material that it could easily stand on its own and be its own story. Nothing apart from a vaguely similar situation and some familiar character names ties this movie to the original Oliver Twist and thus the similarities do little more than invite people to list the differences between the two stories instead of appreciating this story on its own. That aside, this is an intense little portrait of degenerating innocence, drug use and prostitution coupled with a young man's inability to escape his past which leads to a stunning conclusion. Well worth a watch if you can track it down in your local video store.

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