Movie Summary:
Jonas lives in a world where rules are to be followed, where everyone values sameness. Where everything is the same. On the day where the communities honor the Graduates, they are to be given jobs for the rest of their lives. Jonas, however has not be chosen. He has been selected. Jonas is the new Receiver of Memory in training. His instructor, who goes by the name The Giver, gives Jonas memories of the past, that would help the community. They then talk, asking questions and receiving answers, as The Giver escorts Jonas home. One day after Jonas had arrived to his home, his Father brings home a new child, whom Jonas has met before. Gabriel has to stay with them for the next year.
As time passes, Jonas and the Giver start opening up. But a dreaded turn of actions scares Jonas. He has of course experienced pain, which leads him to admit that he is capable of seeing colors. But The Giver gives Jonas a memory of war by accident and Jonas rushes out. The next day, when Jonas arrives to The Giver's home, he watches a past memory of the previous Receiver of Memory, who failed. Jonas surprises the Giver by showing up.
The Giver then explains what happened to the previous Receiver of Memory.
The Giver then explains what happened to the previous Receiver of Memory.
As Jonas goes further and further into the truth of why the Communities lack of difference, he is forced to take action when Gabriel would be Released. In true words, he would be killed. The Giver and Jonas form a plan of his escape, in which he would also take Gabriel as he revealed earlier as he loves him.
When the Chief Elder finds out the Receiver in training has been reported missing, she sends Asher to go find him. Only to reveal part of the truth to him to do so.
When the Chief Elder finds out the Receiver in training has been reported missing, she sends Asher to go find him. Only to reveal part of the truth to him to do so.
Asher follows the Chief Elder's instructions and finds Jonas. He then drops him in a river, and flies away. Jonas struggles to swim up to the shore. When he finally makes it, he continues his journey to find the Boundary of Memories. He is close to giving up in the mountains, but sees a sled, like the one in one of his first memories.
He tries to walk to it, but the snow is waist high and he has difficulty.
When he finally makes it, he rides down the trail and crosses the Boundary of Memory. He then sets free all of his memories. The movie ends with a house, and a faint song being sang by children.
He tries to walk to it, but the snow is waist high and he has difficulty.
When he finally makes it, he rides down the trail and crosses the Boundary of Memory. He then sets free all of his memories. The movie ends with a house, and a faint song being sang by children.
Summary of book:
Jonas, who is 12, is apprehensive about the upcoming Ceremony of Twelve, where he will be assigned his career. Without real protest that he initially accepts his selection as the Receiver of Memory, a job he is told will be filled with pain and the training for which will isolate him from his family and friends forever.
Yet, under the guidance of the present Receiver, a surprisingly kind man who has the same rare, pale eyes as Jonas, the boy absorbs memories that let him feel for the first time feelings of happiness and love. Also, for the first time, Jonas knows what it is to see a rainbow, and to experience snow and the thrill of riding a sled down a hill. But then he is given the painful memories: war, pain, death, and hunger. These are memories of the Community's past, something that the Chief Elder wants to keep hidien. Jonas begins to understand the tremendous loss he and his people have endured by giving their memories away, embracing "sameness", and using "climate control".
In his community, there is no suffering, hunger, fights, but there is also no color, music, or love. The people in the community do not have the freedom to choose. Jonas aches with this new wisdom and his desire for a life Elsewhere gets stronger and stronger. But the final blow for Jonas comes when he asks the Receiver (who now calls himself "The Giver") what "release" is. The Giver says that he could show him, and allows Jonas to watch a present-day tape of his own father, a seemingly kind and loving man, "releasing" a baby twin by giving him an injection. Identical twins are against the rules, so the smaller of the two is released without the one who conducted the release understanding the true meaning of the action. Together, Jonas and the Giver come to the understanding that the time for change is now and must have its memories returned. The only way to make this happen is if Jonas leaves the Community, at which time the memories he has been given will come back into the people. Jonas wants the Giver to escape with him, but the Giver insists that he will be needed to help the people manage the memories, or they will destroy themselves. The Giver also wants to remain behind so that when his work is done, he can be with his daughter, Rosemary, a girl with pale eyes who ten years earlier had failed in her training to become the new Receiver of Memories and who had asked to be released because the memories of pain and loneliness having overwhelmed her.
The Giver comes up with a plan which Jonas will escape to Elsewhere, an unknown land that exists beyond the boundaries of the Communities. The Giver will make it appear as if Jonas drowned in the river so that the search for him will be close by instead of farther away. The Giver will give Jonas memories of strength and courage to help him and save up his meals as Jonas' food and water supply for his journey.
Their plan is changed when Jonas figures out that Gabriel, the baby staying with his family, will be "released" the next morning. Jonas has become attached to the baby, who also has the rare pale eyes, and feels he has no choice but to escape with him. Without the memories of strength and courage promised by the Giver, Jonas takes his father's bike and leaves with Gabriel to find the Elsewhere. Their escape ride is up come with dangers along the way, and the two almost experienced death from cold and starvation when they reach the border of what Jonas believes must be Elsewhere. He finds a sled waiting for him at the top of a snowy hill. He and Gabriel ride the sled down towards a house filled with colored lights and warmth and love and a Christmas tree, and for the first time he hears something he believes must be music.
Yet, under the guidance of the present Receiver, a surprisingly kind man who has the same rare, pale eyes as Jonas, the boy absorbs memories that let him feel for the first time feelings of happiness and love. Also, for the first time, Jonas knows what it is to see a rainbow, and to experience snow and the thrill of riding a sled down a hill. But then he is given the painful memories: war, pain, death, and hunger. These are memories of the Community's past, something that the Chief Elder wants to keep hidien. Jonas begins to understand the tremendous loss he and his people have endured by giving their memories away, embracing "sameness", and using "climate control".
In his community, there is no suffering, hunger, fights, but there is also no color, music, or love. The people in the community do not have the freedom to choose. Jonas aches with this new wisdom and his desire for a life Elsewhere gets stronger and stronger. But the final blow for Jonas comes when he asks the Receiver (who now calls himself "The Giver") what "release" is. The Giver says that he could show him, and allows Jonas to watch a present-day tape of his own father, a seemingly kind and loving man, "releasing" a baby twin by giving him an injection. Identical twins are against the rules, so the smaller of the two is released without the one who conducted the release understanding the true meaning of the action. Together, Jonas and the Giver come to the understanding that the time for change is now and must have its memories returned. The only way to make this happen is if Jonas leaves the Community, at which time the memories he has been given will come back into the people. Jonas wants the Giver to escape with him, but the Giver insists that he will be needed to help the people manage the memories, or they will destroy themselves. The Giver also wants to remain behind so that when his work is done, he can be with his daughter, Rosemary, a girl with pale eyes who ten years earlier had failed in her training to become the new Receiver of Memories and who had asked to be released because the memories of pain and loneliness having overwhelmed her.
The Giver comes up with a plan which Jonas will escape to Elsewhere, an unknown land that exists beyond the boundaries of the Communities. The Giver will make it appear as if Jonas drowned in the river so that the search for him will be close by instead of farther away. The Giver will give Jonas memories of strength and courage to help him and save up his meals as Jonas' food and water supply for his journey.
Their plan is changed when Jonas figures out that Gabriel, the baby staying with his family, will be "released" the next morning. Jonas has become attached to the baby, who also has the rare pale eyes, and feels he has no choice but to escape with him. Without the memories of strength and courage promised by the Giver, Jonas takes his father's bike and leaves with Gabriel to find the Elsewhere. Their escape ride is up come with dangers along the way, and the two almost experienced death from cold and starvation when they reach the border of what Jonas believes must be Elsewhere. He finds a sled waiting for him at the top of a snowy hill. He and Gabriel ride the sled down towards a house filled with colored lights and warmth and love and a Christmas tree, and for the first time he hears something he believes must be music.