Tideland is a 2005 fantasy film co-written and directed by Terry Gilliam. The story follows Jeliza-rose a young child who struggles to understand her isolated lifestyle as she lives with an eccentric older brother and sister in rural Texas after the death of her drug addicted abusive parents. Tideland is a film about childhood innocence being shown through the eyes of the child and how that is used to ultimately exposed the grim reality of real life.
The film starts with Jeliza with two dolls on her fingers talking to fireflies. The dolls are ultimately part of her subconscious demonstrating her emotions within her situation. The main theme of the film seems to ultimately be that of childhood innocence crossed with real world horror as Jeliza playing in the fields is interrupted by a train. This idea of escapism in reflected throughout the film. Jeliza’s dad uses his drug addict rock star persona as a form of escapism, which is used as a stark contrast against their reality as the live in a poor run-down old shack. This childhood innocence contrasted with brutal reality is shown as she helps her dad in shooting up heroin, childhood neglect is a big theme in the film as her dad is a drug addict and her mum doesn’t care for her. This childhood innocence and viewpoint continues as she reads to her dad envisioning him as a monster. When her mum dies of a drug overdose her dad reacts in a more realistic way whilst she doesn’t care again linking to the idea of childhood innocence as she doesn’t fully understand the situation which is shown in the real-world paranoia of the dad crossed with the daughter’s innocence.
Tideland is an Alice in wonderland type story of escapism, as she ends up in a dream like wonderland finding a house surrounded by fields. When she walks through the doors of her new home, she is met with crushing reality. Within the film the dolls heads act as parts of her subconscious, throughout this childhood escapism she plays with her dolls heads almost has if she has multiple personality disorder. Tideland is about the contrast of fantasy and reality as in reality she helps her dad shoot up heroin but then she goes off and talks to a squirrel as if she understands it. She then uses her dolls heads casting them as a braver explorer and a scared girl as metaphorical representations of the two underling parts of her own subconscious, this subconscious is also shown when she dresses up in different clothes. Her dram like state is also shown when she doesn’t register her dad on drugs and when she comes across a strange woman dressed in black which at this part in the film could be part of her subconscious, she also uses a wig and makeup to have a different identity to slip into dreams.
This idea of imagination in contrast with reality is shown when she puts on a wig and makeup on her dad’s corpse as she doesn’t understand the situation, which is also shown as she tries to use the radio to contact people. She then comes across a woman dressed as the grim reaper indicating the theme of death in the film. A lot of the characters in this film seem to have sad disturbing backstories such as Dell the woman she runs across who was blinded in one eye by a bee sting when she set her house and beekeeping hive ablaze killing her mum and dad. There is a genuine element of sweetness to the film in that she’s excited that someone doesn’t hate her and that she has a friend. Within the film she uses her imagination to make things seem better or worse than they are. She then comes across Dickens a man who has a disability and acts like a child. They play with each other in his submarine which is a tent against the tree. Dickens is hunting the monster shark which means that he lays bait in the form of coins to kill the monster shark which is the train. The characters in this film wish too live in a dream world as they ultimately fear reality and went to destroy it, Tideland is ultimately a film about a sad lonely girl that wants a friend.
In a surreal sequence the house sinks into the sea. Jeliza swims around her house with her doll talking about Dickens as she swims with fish and comes cross Dell in a pirate uniform whipping Dickens. This demonstrates of demonstrates as a form of escapism can become a nightmare and that its better to embrace reality. The film very such uses two styles conflicting with one another being childhood innocence and harsh reality as she peeks in on Dell having sex with a man and she thinks she’s a vampire sucking his blood. She then drops her dolls head down a hole again creating parrels to Alice in Wonderland. Her heads again being parts of her subconscious scold her as she has ultimately lost a part of herself and becomes like a ghost. Dickens comes up with a plan to lure the monster shark i.e., the train with dynamite blowing up the train and destroying the outside world leaving the characters to their fantasies. It is shown that dickens were the one that drove a bus on the train tracks as parts the characters backstory’s a slowly revealed throughout the film.
Dell is ultimately obsessed with Jeliza’s dad Noah and wants to taxidermy him to preserve him or more specifically the memory of him. This sequence plays out a burial ritual with Jeliza putting her doll in his stomach showcasing the idea that all the characters must move on from the past traumas to live. For the first time in the film Jeliza acts like a normal child and greaves over the death of her father. Jeliza, Dell and Dickens then clean up and decorate the house symbolically whipping away the past as they sit down and have a proper meal together like a family. The fear of change is a theme throughout the film as Dell doesn’t wants change in that she doesn’t want the man she loves to be gone. Dell is a complex character within the film on one hand she does care for Jeliza and wishes to be a sort of mother figure to her, however she also resents her as she is a reminder of the woman that stole the love of her life away. Inside Jelizas dads stomach the dolls heads are shown as angles hovering around her pregnant mum on an operating table showcasing that even though her parents are gone, they will symbolically always be together. Scenes of Jeliza playing with Dickens her mentally disabled friend showcase this idea of childhood innocence thought out the film, they kiss each other very much like how children kiss, the film also delves into Dickens backstory of him being molested by his grandmother when he was young shown the disturbing reality behind the film’s childlike aesthetic.
On the edge of their world, they find a construction site were fantasy and reality merge. Dickens has made a homemade explosive to create the ned of the world destroying fantasy and embarrassing reality. Delila considers Dickens to be her boyfriend in a childlike way, she talks to her dad like his still alive as she can’t like the past go and wants to embrace the fantasy. The fantasy is linked to the next scene where she dresses up as a bride and wants to have a baby with Dickens. The whole film is told through a child fantasy with Delia being in love with Dickens and Dell being compared to a witch. It turns out that Dickens has dynamite and wants to end the world by blowing up train to kill the shark. There characters in the film want to destroy the real world by destroying the train the link between fantasy and reality to live in the dream world. They love each other and Delila thinks she has a baby in a childlike pretend way. As surreal as Tideland is the film does take place in a sort of reality and the real world lies beyond the farmland. Throughout the film Jeliza and Dickens kiss throughout the film, however it is not sexual and instead comes across as who children playing pretend.
Throughout the film there are subtle hints to the backstory to the characters such as the idea that Dell and Jeliza’s father were lovers at a young age, Jeliza then left her, married another woman, and had Jeliza, she has a shrine to her dad showing that they were lovers at a young age. At the climax of the film Jeliza and dell get into a fight which leads to the doll getting crushed destroying the barrier between reality and her dreamworld as Dell is killed and she Delia runs away. Delia ultimately wants to escape into the dream world to be with her dad. The film ends with Dickens using the dynamite to blow up the train track, train, and the house destroying her old imagery life for good. Delia goes to find Dickens and is taken in by a woman believing she was on the rain showcasing the journey into the real world.
Tideland is a film about accepting the real world with all its faults and horrors as its ultimately better than living in a false reality.