Oliver Twist

Oliver Twist (2005) is Roman Polanski's take on Charles Dickens, and you can watch it online on iFILM. It follows one orphan's road from a brutal workhouse into a den of London thieves, and somehow back toward kindness.

Nine-year-old Oliver (Barney Clark) dares to ask Mr. Bumble for a second bowl of gruel, so he's sold off as an apprentice. He bolts, falls in with the young pickpocket called the Artful Dodger, and ends up under Fagin (Ben Kingsley), who runs a crew of child thieves. When gentle Mr. Brownlow takes the boy in, Fagin's enforcer Bill Sikes (Jamie Foreman) sets out to drag him back.

Polanski rebuilt grimy Victorian London on sets in Prague, and it shows: fog, soot, and a child's fear with no gloss on it. Mark Strong turns up in a small part. Billed as a family drama, but it never sugars the poverty. Stream Oliver Twist (2005) online on iFILM.