‘Divergent’: 1 Deleted Scene Shows a Brutal Attack From the Book
Dystopian movies that bring the future to our attention are unique and sometimes astonishing versions of what might be. Divergent was no different than the rest of the futuristic movies.
Through the brutal journey of the young girl who chose to leave the confines of her parent’s caste to follow her ambitions, we find out her world is only an experiment.
Experiment or not, the reality of the competition was fierce and brutal. There should have been no way a girl trained to spend her life assisting others would become able to survive the rigorous trials that awaited the Dauntless initiates. One deleted scene proved that the competition was far more brutal than the movie let on.
It’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye…
Place yourself in Tris’ shoes. You’re laying in bed after a long day of training, and you wake to hear screaming in the dorm. Once you get up, you find the lead initiate writhing in pain on the floor with a throwing knife sticking out of his eye. Fear sets in with the sudden knowledge that the position in the caste is worth killing for, to someone in the room.
Wonderful scene to set the tone for the competition’s fierceness and beautifully acted. However, it was removed from the movie altogether. Some state that the reason it was removed was to keep the PG13 rating, but according to Cinema Blend, that is not the case.
Director Neil Burger stated:
“Sometimes you look at the movie as a whole, and you’re like what’s slowing us down? Why is this feeling long? And even though it’s a good scene, that’s really the art of trying to figure out where the movie is working and sometimes what’s slowing it down is one of your favorite scenes, and you’ve got to cut it out.”
The eye-stabbing scene was deleted because it slowed the progression of the movie as a whole. Sadly, it was one of Burger’s favorites. However, you can catch the scene on the DVD release, or read the scene in its entirety in the books.
Do the movies ever stack up to the books?
Be forewarned, many book aficionados have refused to watch the series past the first movie. Why? Reddit user Strawberry1897 made a list of the six things they didn’t appreciate that were changed from the book to the movie.
Their list included the order of events and made-up scenes that weren’t included in the book. They go on to note that the romance between Four and Tris isn’t smooth and predictable, but fast and feels forced.
In general, the consensus was that the movie and books, though based on the same story are extremely different. Those that managed to read the books before they saw the movie were very disappointed and pointed out that the book (as usual) had more detail and more dialogue than what the movie produced.
Where to watch the ‘Divergent’ series
Be aware that the last movie, Allegiant, had a very disappointing box office appearance and production for the last of the Divergent series has been permanently stopped. Neither of the lead actors agreed to return to finish the series. You will have to rely on your own imagination and the books to find out what happens to Tris and Four after the last movie ended on a cliffhanger.
Is your curiosity peaked? Read the books, available online, then watch the series of three movies for yourself. Divergent streams on Netflix and Prime Video.
