An Alternate Continuation: Man in the High Castle Enters Season 2

The abandonment of freedom is embraced by more people than some of us may care to admit. To live under totalitarianism is, alas, to some a blessing, for they're devoid of the responsibility to forge their own destinies. They sleep through life, content to let others pull the strings. However, for freedom's advocates, the extremes of governmental control can create a hellish existence and dismantling such, a paramount goal.

This concept predominates Amazon’s “Man in the High Castle”, based on Phillip K. Dick’s classic, parallel-reality novel. The series enters its second season December 16.

In the story's parallel scheme, the Axis, not the Allies, have won WWII. Now, in an alternate, early ‘60s, Germany harnesses one portion of the U.S. and Japan the other. There's a burgeoning tension between the factions, but none as profound as what brews beneath. The latter’s participants acknowledge a series of mysterious films which depict the Allies as triumphant, and the enigmatic Man in the High Castle intends to collect them all.

Returning to the series are Alexa Davalos; Joel de la Fuente; Rupert Evans; Michael Hogan; Luke Kleintank; DJ Qualls; Rufus Sewell; Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa; Brennan Brown; Daniel Roebuck; and joining the cast, in what’s intended as a significant role, Stephen Root.

“Man in the High Castle” may not fly well with those discontent with Western-world influence, but for those who despise global injustice (and yes, many of us still do), the series will prove an inspirational tool. Despite its melancholic content, “Man in the High Castle” demonstrates that one can (and should) oppose tyranny, no matter how grand its scope. It also shows there's always hope for a better tomorrow, no matter what the "reality".

I saw the Boy...

I fancy weird doll/puppet/mannequin stories, whether they're supernatural or psychologically based. My interest piqued in my younger years upon viewing such ventriloquist-dummy movies as “Dead of Night '45”; “Devil Doll '64”; and the "Psycho" structured “Magic”, not to mention such creepy offshoots as "Dead Silence"; “Child’s Play”; “Puppet Master”; "Pin"; "Annabelle"; and “Dolly Dearest." Oh, and then there were all those terrific television shows with their fine variations on the theme, like "Twilight Zone"; “Alfred Hitchock Presents"; "Goosebumps” ; "Mrs. Columbo"; "Boris Karloff's Thriller"; and "American Horror Story".

The latest in this eerie sub-genre, "The Boy" (now available for home viewing), is produced by imagi-movie filmmaker, Tom Rosenberg and directed by "Devil Inside'"s William Brent Bell. It stars Lauren Cohan (yep, dear ol’ Maggie from “The Walking Dead”) as Greta, an American nanny hired by an elderly British couple, the Heelshires (Jim Norton and Diana Hardcastle), to work in a gloomy, old mansion  to tend to...well, this particular doll. 

It’s actually a realistic representation of a boy, thus the film’s title: a kind of uncanny-valley, porcelain-headed thing, which due to its finely sculpted detail, looks almost alive. Greta learns that the eccentric couple lost their son, Brahms, in a fire, and the doll now occupies his spot. In fact, the couple instructs Greta on Brahm's care, ensuring that she treats the fabrication like (in the Pinocchio vein) a real-live boy. That she follow instructions is most important since the couple plans to go away on "holiday". 

The doll actually insinuates behavior, moving from one place to another about the abode when Greta grows lax in her care of it. This prompts her to wonder if the doll isn't, in fact, inhabited by a spirit, and naturally Brahms comes to mind. 

Greta's new boyfriend, Malcolm (Rupert "Man in the High Castle" Evans), enlightens her on the boy's background, which helps explain the Heelshires' ritualistic lament. However, the more Greta tries to come to terms with the situation, the stranger things become, and before long, she finds herself frightened out of her wits by an entity that insists on her love. To complicate matters, Greta's old boyfriend, Cole (Ben Robson) comes to visit, but his need for renewed affection only irritates the odd bond. 

What ultimately develops doesn't quite slip into the territory of a rampaging Chucky or Zuni Doll; but in its own right, "The Boy" does become as relentless as any prior devil-doll incarnation, though with an unnerving, psychological twist, which leaves the conclusion wide open for a sequel. 

Bell makes excellent use of Stacey Menear's haunting script, carefully staging matters so that even when the film borders on familiarity, it still commands one's attention. Though it's hardly a Val Lewton imprint, it also employs enough of the famed filmmaker's shadowy nuances to be a throwback of sorts, raising it above most modern horror fare. 

For Cohan fans, the film will surely satisfy. Like her television persona, Greta remains resourceful throughout and in the home's ominous corridors, wavers between maternal instinct and the desperate need to stay alive. 

The big star of the film, of course, is the doll: an unforgettable entity for all of its simplicity. Daniel Pearl's photography helps much this regard, capturing the prop in such a way to make it look like a catatonic child.

Perhaps, "The Boy" is more an exercise in atmosphere than a cinematic ground breaker, but for those who fancy this sub-genre (and again, I'm one such admirer), this entry will more than hold its own. 

Man in the High Castle: Amazon Spins Reality in Series Adaptation

Based on Phillip K. Dick’s award-winning, alternate-reality novel, Amazon’s new series, “The Man in the High Castle” presents the unsettling prospect of the Axis forces having won World War II, with a down-the-line focus, circa 1962. 

The result of the Axis victory (finalized by an A-bomb on D.C.) has created a shared U.S., with Germany controlling the east and Japan the west. A Resistance opposes both forces, but there also exists an underlying friction between Germany and Japan: a prospect that the former may attack the latter upon Hitler’s demise.

Produced by Frank Spotiniz and Ridley Scott; directed by Spotiniz and written by David Semel, the series' principles are Alexa Davalos as Juliana Crain; Rupert Evans as Frank Frink; and Luke Kleintank as Joe Blake. 

Crain possesses a film strip that her sister obtained prior to her death, and Blake is a truck driver, who expresses Resistance sympathy, but he also harbors a secret. Rounding out the fine cast is Brennan Brown; Arnold Chun; Joel de la Fuente; DJ Qualls; Daniel Roebuck; Carsten Norgaard; Rufus Sewell; and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa; with other competent performers also on board. 

Crain’s film shows the Allies winning the war. Is the footage a propagandist ruse? Crain’s boyfriend (Evans) believes it is, attributing the work to the enigmatic Man in the High Castle...whomever he may be. 

Amazon premiered the series' first two episodes in late October, but the official stretch starts on November 20, with all episodes available for viewing at such time. 

From the start, the series prompts us to question what would have fallen through the cracks if the opposing forces had won. Imagine a world weighed by prevailing anti-Semitism, that's bypassed Elvis, the Beatles, Godzilla, Jack Kerouac, Martin Luther King; a world where our most basic, taken-for-granted freedoms are outlawed. It’s a chilling concept dosed in espionage, Orwellian set-ups and the profound notion that "Evil triumphs only when good men do nothing."

I’ll report on the show's progress via replies. I must say, for the long haul, this one looks most promising.