The Giver (film)

The Giver is a 2014 American social science fiction film directed by Phillip Noyce and starring Jeff Bridges, Brenton Thwaites, Odeya Rush, Meryl Streep, Alexander Skarsgård, Katie Holmes and Cameron Monaghan. The film is based on the 1993 novel The Giver by Lois Lowry.
The Giver premiered on August 11, 2014 and was released theatrically in the United States on August 15, 2014 and grossed $67 million on a $25 million budget. It received a People's Choice Award nomination for Favorite Dramatic Movie.
 

Plot

Following a calamity referred to as The Ruin, society is reorganized into a series of communities, and all memories of the past are held by one person, the Receiver of Memory. Since the Receiver of Memory is the only individual in the community who has the memories from before, he must advise the Chief Elder, and the other Elders, on the decisions for the community. As a curious detail, the Receiver of Memory, and his assistant, are also the only ones endowed with color-vision.
Jonas (Brenton Thwaites) is a 16-year-old boy who is anxious about the career he will be assigned (along with everyone else). His two best friends are Asher (Cameron Monaghan) and Fiona (Odeya Rush).
On the day of graduation, everyone is assigned a career. Jonas is briefly skipped, as he has not been assigned a career. Instead, Jonas is to become the next Receiver of Memory, and progressively receive memories from the past receiver, The Giver (Jeff Bridges). Upon assuming his role as The Receiver, Jonas learns of the Giver's past and of his child, Rosemary (Taylor Swift), who preceded Jonas as Receiver of Memory. She was so distraught from the memories that she committed suicide, by what the Community calls "release". They regard its nature as mysterious; the audience learns that it is death by lethal injection. Jonas begins to teach his findings to his friend Fiona, with whom he decides to share the idea of emotions. Fiona, who is unable to fully comprehend the idea of emotion, is unsure how she feels. Jonas then tells her to stop taking the injection and the next day kisses her, an action which is antiquated and unknown to the community, which Jonas gained through memory.
Jonas also shares his memories with the baby his father brought home to their house, Gabriel, and develops a close relationship with him after discovering he shares the same mark on his wrist Jonas does, the mark of a potential Receiver of Memory. Jonas decides that everyone should have the memories of the past and eventually, The Giver and Jonas decide that the only way they can help the community is to go past the border of what they call Elsewhere, beyond the community, therefore releasing the memories back into the community. Jonas sneaks out at curfew, and decides to get Gabe at the Nurturing Center, who is to be released due to his general weakness. Asher, his other longtime friend beside Fiona, tries to stop him before he leaves the neighborhood, but Jonas quickly punches him. Asher lies on the ground, stunned, and Jonas rides his bike to the Nurturing Center. He tells Fiona his plan and wants to take her with him, but she refuses and instead helps him retrieve Gabe. Before he leaves, she kisses him and helps him escape.
Meanwhile, Jonas' mother (Katie Holmes) and Asher go to the Chief Elder (Meryl Streep) to tell them Jonas is missing. Guards are sent to contain Jonas, who they say has become "dangerous", but Jonas gets one of their motorcycles and drives off the cliff near The Giver's dwelling into "Elsewhere". Asher is assigned, by the Chief Elder, to use a drone to find Jonas and "lose" (kill) him, but when Asher finds Jonas stumbling through the desert, he instead captures him with the drone. After Jonas implores Asher to think that, if he ever cared for Jonas, he would let him go, Asher drops him into a river, setting him free. Jonas stumbles through the land of Elsewhere, while Fiona has been condemned to be "released" for helping him. Just as she is about to be "released" by Jonas' father (Alexander Skarsgård), The Giver steps in and stalls the Chief Elder with memories of his daughter, Rosemary, trying to call out the Chief Elder, but is unsuccessful. Eventually, Jonas finds a sled like one he rode in a memory from The Giver and makes his way beyond the border of Elsewhere, releasing memories and color-vision back into the community and saving Fiona because Jonas' father realizes what he was really doing. As this happens Jonas' mother sheds a single tear finally understanding the feeling of love. Jonas and Gabe return to the house of his memories, where people are singing Christmas carols, and his voiceover says that, back in the community, he swears he hears music, too, or possibly just an echo.