Oliver Twist (2005 film)  Oliver Twist is a 2005 drama film directed by Roman Polanski. The screenplay by Ronald Harwood is based on Charles Dickens’s 1838 novel of the same name. The film was preceded by numerous adaptations of the Dickens book, including several feature films, three television films, two miniseries, and a stage musical that became an Academy Award-winning film. The film premiered at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival on 11 September 2005 before going into limited release in the United States on 23 September. In the 1830s, a young orphan (Oliver Twist) is forcibly brought to a workhouse in England on his ninth birthday. He and other resident children are treated poorly and given very little food. Facing starvation, the boys select Oliver through a lottery to ask for more food at the next meal, which he does. This results in Oliver being chastised, and one workhouse official decided to have him hanged, but in the end he was offered along with £5 (roughly £650 today) to anyone willing to have him as an apprentice. In the end Oliver is sent to Mr. Sowerberry, a coffin-maker, whose wife and senior apprentice take an instant dislike to the newcomer. After more poor treatment, Oliver snaps and attacks Noah, the snotty older apprentice, for having insulted his mother. Noah howls instantly and brings Mrs. Sowerberry and Charlotte rushing in to drag Oliver away and lock him in the cold dark cellar. The violent behavior of the orphan is duly brought to the notice of Mr. Sowerberry. Oliver is beaten, and knowing his life with the Sowerberrys will only get worse, he escapes on foot early the next morning. With little food, Oliver determines to walk 70 miles to London. After a week of travel, he arrives at the city, barefoot and penniless. He meets Jack Dawkins, or "The Artful Dodger," a boy-thief who takes Oliver to his home and hideout at Saffron Hill that he shares with many other young pickpockets and their eccentric elderly leader, Fagin. Soon, Oliver is being groomed to join their gang. On his first outing with the pickpockets, two of the boys steal a man’s handkerchief and Oliver is arrested. However he is proven innocent by an eyewitness, and the owner of the handkerchief (the wealthy Mr. Brownlow) takes pity on Oliver. Brownlow, believing that Oliver is innocent, informally adopts him, giving him new clothes and the promise of a good education.