Can You Lend a Digger a Pencil?

Holes (2003)

Rating ... B+ (72)

A pair of flying sneakers accosts Stanley Yelnats IV from out of the blue and he's promptly charged with theft; police investigation soon ceases but he's out of the frying pan into the Camp Green Lake correctional facility where he's required to dig holes each day in order to build character. In other news, live-action Disney momentarily abandons talking animals and platitudes in favor of absurdism and allegory, finds affecting way to depict hostility pardoned and individual strength gained in the process.

It's easiest to spot Holes as a canny satire on the brute force mentality of correction. ("You take a bad boy and make him dig holes all day in the hot sun, turns him into a good boy!" - Mr. Sir, camp law enforcement.) Things start to turn hairy for Stanley when he's inexplicably framed for stealing the recently-donated tennis shoes of his idol, Clyde 'Sweetfeet' Livingston (Rick Fox). Clyde's hilarious, faux-tearful testimony - "I don't understand what type of person steals from homeless children [ turns to camera ] ... you're no fan of mine!" - speaks to adults' vain modeling of child development and reform in their own image. Meanwhile the court feigns clemency when it allows Stanley to choose the lesser of two identical evils as his sentence - time spent in prison, or at Camp Green Lake - without ever addressing the root cause of the issue on trial.

The bulk of the problem concerns how people respond to animosity. The wardens at Green Lake are all instances of malice reproduced rather than healed at the source. Tim Blake Nelson's sheepish counselor has a nasty proclivity for picking on the weakest in order to conceal his own diminuitive stature, while Mr. Sir (John Voight, apparently smoking some exotic tumbleweed that must be seen to be believed) is ultimately revealed to be a lifetime miscreant and product of failed correction. Then there's Sigourney Weaver sad history of digging holes - pain inherited from her father before being passed down to camp inmates under the guise of correction. And the lore of Green Lake is just as sullied; a substantial part of the narrative follows exploits of the legendary bandit Kissin' Kate Barlow, who pursues violent reciprocation for the intolerance around her but ultimately withers away, dispirited and alone.

As if Holes needed more subtle pessimism, Stanley's family is suffering from an unluckiness curse brought upon by their ancestor's failure to hold up his end of the bargain with a gypsy. Stanley unknowingly repays the debt when he willingly assumes a similar burden for Madam Zeroni's descendent; unavoidably, children are destined to be bequeathed shortcomings from their forebearers, and the film is a tribute to their ability to fill in the holes.