Taika takes on the Oompa-loompas
Director Taika Waititi is bringing fresh eyes to Charlie And The Chocolate Factory — a perspective that’s sorely needed
THE LIST OF filmmakers able to pull off a movie about a young boy whose imaginary best friend is mass-murdering dictator Adolf Hitler is extremely short. In fact, it may be a list with just a single name: Jojo Rabbit director Taika Waititi. The New Zealand filmmaker became the first person of indigenous descent to win an Oscar for his Nazi-era comedy earlier this year; that Waititi cast himself—a proud Poly ne si an russian- jew—as a goofy version of Hitler was itself a middle finger to the Führer, and a smart appropriation of a racist white icon.
It’s a trick Waititi looks set to replicate with Roald Dahl’s Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, which he’ll adapt for two new animated series for Netflix. While the first looks to be a standard adaptation based on the world and characters we’ve known and loved for years, the second will be a more ambitious take on the Oompa-loompas. Wonka’s little helpers have a troubling origin story: described as a “pygmy tribe from the very deepest and darkest part of the African jungle where no white man had been before”, they were essentially Wonka’s slaves in the first edition of Dahl’s beloved children’s book. It would take a later revision by publishers to remove this racist backstory.
There’s another sense of Waititi reclaiming a previously racist story here. Colonialism and cultural representation are themes that loom large in his movies, from the Maori characters of Boy to the diverse crew that made Thor: Ragnarok. With this latest project on his bulging to-do list, the filmmaker seems to be carving a niche for himself in challenging outdated ideas of colonialism with his unique, quirky sense of humour. Racism tends to be treated very sombrely on screen. Waititi has made a career out of finding comedy in the sheer absurdity of it. Plus, the fact this this is an animated project gives the director even more license to make his version of the Oompa-loompas the most purely imaginative one yet. With any luck, he will prove a worthy recipient of the golden ticket.