Printer Friendly Version  BellaOnline's Drama Movies Editor  A
Simple Twist of Fate (1994)  Until my daughter told me about
this 1994 film, I didn't know of its existence. She mentioned it
because she knows how much I love the novel Silas Marner and the
movie adaptation that stars Ben Kingsley.  In the Eliot novel
Silas Marner is a weaver. As a young man he is a member of a
fundamentalist religious group. When his best friend steals the
girl Silas is engaged to marry, Silas leaves his community and
takes up residence among strangers.  Silas directs his
frustrated capacity to love towards the coins with which he is
paid for his weaving. When his hoard is stolen, Silas transfers
his love to the golden-haired little girl who wanders into his
cottage.  The trauma in the Martin adaptation seems trivial
compared to the one in the novel. Silas is an ignorant weaver.
The Martin character, Michael McCann, is a college-educated
teacher, yet he reacts to life's inequities as if he were as
ignorant and superstitious as p