HLife | Healthy Living Redefined

A classic is a classic for a reason – because it contains universal themes that we can all relate to and that transcend the illusory barriers of time and space. And since we are all about transcending time and space here at HLife, we were thrilled when we found out that one of our favorite channels, SyFy, was presenting a classically inspired two-part series called Alice.

Based on two of author/mathematician Lewis Carroll’s best-known books – Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass – Alice is a modern-day interpretation of the story of a girl that falls into a land of fantastical characters ruled by a queen, and faces many challenges on her way back to the real world.

Combining elements from both books and others from his own imagination, writer/director Nick Willing creates a world with very grown-up psychological undertones for his martial-arts black belt Alice, a young woman whose father’s disappearance left her with a somewhat troubled relationship to men.

Willing’s Alice, played by the perfectly cast Caterina Scorsone,  is not a child but a woman, who has finally fallen in love and is in search of her boyfriend who is kidnapped after he tries to give Alice a ring she refuses to take (too soon for trust-weary Alice.)  As Alice chases a man related to the incidence, she stumbles through a mirror and onto a world where she meets Hatter, White Knight and the terrible Queen of Hearts, who rules over the land.

With the mirror as a venue to our internal self and the rabbit hole a symbol for access to our subconscious mind, Willing creates a world of significant psychological consequence for Alice, who must face her fears, save both the fantasy world and the real world, heal her wounds with respect to her father, and discover true friendship and love.

We loved Alice’s journey as well as Wonderland’s allusions to modern-day, with The White Rabbit as a corporation composed of men in black suits, human trafficking, and a casino where those captured are drained, not of money, but of a very interesting commodity, the most precious of elixirs to be sold and traded: extreme human emotions.

Willing also directed the wonderful three-part series Tin Man, another great psychological adaptation, this time of The Wizard of Oz, with friendship, courage, sacrifice, and sibling love at the core of the story.

Both will be presented again on the SyFy channel this Sunday – Tin Man from 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Alice from  5-9 p.m. – as a marathon of classic adaptations that we think nobody should miss.  Get some organic grub and make a day of it – you won’t regret it.