After recently rewatching Matilda for the first time in a decade, I realize that the movie is very well-done. As a little kid, I obviously never paid close attention to the editing of a movie. However, after viewing this film and realizing how brilliant some of the scenes are, I reward this movie with 4 DiDomenicos.
Matilda is a children's movie about a young girl who never "fit in" with her, well, trashy family (to say the least.) Her parents only care about money, looks, and living the seemingly high life. Matilda is virtually invisible to them. Her father is a used car salesman who constantly rips people off and her mother is a neglectful "housewife" who spends her days out of the house playing bingo and shopping. When Matilda grows old enough, she has to beg her father to send her to school. It is there that she meets her wonderful teacher, Miss Honey, who is likely the first adult to truly be kind to Matilda. Miss Honey is the one to realize that Matilda is absolutely brilliant. However, after Matilda's father sells one of his notoriously awful used cars to the evil principal of the school, Ms. Trunchbull, she is enraged. While chaos ensues, Matilda also must deal with something much bigger than the all-too-horrifying adult problems: her magical powers! Because what's a good children's movie without a bit of magic?
Editing
Because Matilda is a children's movie, there are many scenes that are meant to hold a child's attention. In order to do so, very interesting editing was used. During a few scene shifts, I noticed not-so-typical transitions were used. For example, after a scene when Matilda's family goes to a nice restaurant and all hell breaks loose, a fun, triangular transition is used to cut to the new scene.
I also noticed a bit of a fisheye lens used with a close up when the antagonists (Matilda's parents or principal) are speaking down to Matilda or simply yelling. This is most likely used to intimidate the audience– who again, is most likely young children.
Specific Scene
In one of my favorite scenes from the movie, Ms. Trunchbull is screaming at a class for god knows what (this is a daily thing with Ms. Trunchbull). As the yelling escalates, Matilda decides to take things into her own hands and begins to use her magic against the principal. However, her magic ability to move items with her eyes takes a bit of concentration on her end. So, as the screaming continues, a close up of Matilda's eyes is shown, with a very stern look on her face. The camera then jumps to a water glass with a newt inside of it (from a previous prank on Ms. Trunchbull.) The camera jumps again to Trunchbull's furious face then again to Matilda's concentrated look and then again to the water glass, this time shaking a bit. This pattern continues with the jumping back and forth until Matilda's powers have grown strong enough to flip the cup of water (and lizard) upward so the newt lands directly on Trunchbull's chest. Matilda's eyes immediately relax, showing her job was done and Trunchbull, in turn, has a mental breakdown, losing it at the sight of the newt crawling towards her face.
This scene reminded me a lot of the scene from Juno that we examined in class. In the Juno scene, a teenage girl has just walked into an abortion clinic after learning from a protestor that unborn babies have fingernails. As the main character tries not to let that bother her, the camera jumps to scenes of women using their fingernails, eventually making Juno run out of the clinic and ultimately have the baby. In both scenes from the very different movies, the camera does a lot of jumping back and forth between shots. As the jumping progresses, the speed in between the shots quickens, giving the viewer a sense of urgency and anxiety. Paired with suspenseful music in Matilda, the scene really grabs the viewer's attention and proves to be quite humorous if you stick around through all of that Trunchbull screaming.
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