Matilda is a classic family film, but one that quietly has some harsh aspects that stand out in retrospect. Directed by Danny Devito (who also appears in the film as Matilda’s father Harry Wormwood), Matilda focuses on the titular little girl. Brilliant beyond her years but ignored by a largely uncaring world, Matilda finds herself defending herself, her friends, and her teacher Miss Honey from the villainous school principal, Ms Trunchbull. The 1996 movie version of the Roald Dhal book of the same name, Matilda is a sweet story that retains much of the author’s sneaky and subversive leanings.

However, there are some aspects of the film that retain are a lot harsher when viewed through a modern adult lense. This extends to the implied failings of the adults around Matilda, the abuses that have been heaped on her and those around her, and the potentially dangerous capabilities of Matilda’s powers given her origins. While these aspects don’t take away from the beloved children’s movie, they do highlight the surprisingly lethal stakes and darker aspects of the story that young audiences didn’t pick up on when they were watching it the first time.

9

Matilda Is Criminally Neglected By Her Parents — And The Authorities Don’t Care

The Authorities Should Be Trying To Help Matilda, Not Ignoring Her

One of the key elements of Matilda is the way she’s neglected by her family, which highlights a very harsh reality in retrospect. For much of the film, Matilda’s father Harry is shown to be under surveillance by the authorities due to his criminal business activities. This means the entire family is being monitored, allowing Matilda to even trick them at one point. However, this suggests that the authorities are also witnessing the neglect Matilda is going through, and do nothing about it.

This could be explained as the FBI not wanting to give themselves away by alerting child services. However, that would mean they’ve reasoned the criminal neglect Matilda is put through is worth it for a chance to bring down her father. The alternative is that the FBI just doesn’t care enough to get involved, which would make sense given how many adults in Matilda don’t seem all that bothered by child endangerment.

8

Matilda’s Father Is A Criminal Menace (And May Have Gotten People Killed)

Harry Wormwood’s Thrifty Tactics Might Have Gotten People Killed

The reason Harry Wormwood is under surveillance by the authorities is for his illegal business practices as a car salesman. In the context of the film, it’s used to highlight Michael’s flaws as a person and draw a more stark contrast to how Matilda and Ms. Hunny act. However, it’s worth noting that Harry’s actions may have more grisly repercussions. Because Harry sells defective cars, they suffer mechanical problems. Trunchbull complains to Matilda about the annoyances this caused her, but it’s possible that Harry’s actions might have led other motorists to have more fatal accidents.

This would explain why the FBI is so invested in bringing him down instead of just relying on the police, suggesting they view his crimes as a federal offense. This would also explain why he’s so insistent on fleeing the country at the end of the film, as he may be facing some serious consequences for his crimes. Harry might quietly have a lot more blood on his hands than the movie indicates.

7

Matilda’s Brother Is A Victim Of Their Parents Too

Played by Brian Levinson, Matilda’s brother Michael is portrayed as much of a bully as their parents. This allows him to be the target of some slapstick in the film, and further underscore just how different Matilda is from the rest of her family. However, while their parents are fully aware of how cruel they can be, Michael is just a child. He’s learned how to act through watching his parents, suggesting that his cruelty towards his sister is an extension of his parents’ treatment of her.

It’s entirely possible that he’s only picking on her to fit in with his parents. Michael may have even once shown the same promise as Matilda, but was browbeat into acting more like his parents to avoid their wraith. In that sense, Michael is also a victim of Harry and Zinnia’s terrible parenting, and going on the run with them at the end of the movie might just make him worse.

6

Ms. Trunchbull’s Actress Was Repeatedly Injured On Set

By all accounts, Danny Devito was a very thoughtful director on the set of Matilda and worked to ensure the cast were well taken care of. However, even under the best of circumstances, film production can have all sorts of challenges and accidents. This is exactly what happened to Pam Ferris, who played Trunchbull. As Ferris revealed during an interview with Radio Times, Ferris was repeatedly injured while filming Matilda. During the scene where Trunchbull is attacked by erasers, Ferris got so much chalk dust in her eye that she required multiple hospital visits to get her eyes flushed.

The worst injury that happened to Ferris occurred while filming the scene where Trunchbull throws Amanda Thripp by her pigtails. To film the scene, a harness was attached to Amanda’s actress and Ferris’ fingers. Unfortunately, the natural centrifugal force caused by the shot almost ripped off one of Ferris’ fingers, resulting in her getting several stitches. Ferris still looks back fondly on the production of the film, but it’s a reminder that even the best sets can have their share of troubles.

5

Miss Honey’s Backstory Is Genuinelly Horrifying

Jennifer Honey is one of Matilda‘s few noble adults, who strives to protect her students and shield them from the abuses of Ms. Trunchbull. This is revealed to be partly because Miss Honey is firmly aware of how horrifying Trunchbull can be, as she’s the principal’s niece and was raised by her after the death of her father. However, these little details highlight just how harrowing Miss Honey’s backstory really was. Her father’s death is heavily implied to have been caused by Trunchbull, who claimed his fortune and home after his death.

Her abusive treatment of Jennifer was apparently harsh enough that she broke one of Jennifer’s arms and seemingly faced no consequences for her actions. Even as an adult, Jennifer remains under Trunchbull’s thumb until Matilda helps her finally break free. Jennifer Honey has a quietly terrifying story in Matilda, which at least has a happy ending.

4

The Local Community Has Accepted Ms. Trunchbull

One of the harshest elements about Ms. Trunchbull is the way she’s seemingly accepted by the world around her. Trunchbull is a vicious educator who relishes in torutring her students. Despite this, none of the parents of the students under her care seem to mind all that much. The best case scenario is that all of them are unaware of what Ms. Trunchbull does, and that the villainous principal simply hides her abuses from public eye. This is supported by Hortensia, who says her parents simply didn’t believe her about Trunchbull’s abuses.

If that’s the case, then the parents of Matilda’s classmates are woefully underperforming as parents and aren’t doing their due diligence. The alternative is that the parents are aware of Trunchbull’s actions, and either don’t care or actually endorse her actions. Considering there are torture devices in her office that she frequently throws children into, it’d be hard for any parent who actually visited the school to simply ignore Trunchbull’s methods. It’s a dark view on the parents in Matilda‘s world (that also fits into the general tone of Roald Dahl’s books like Matilda).

3

Amanda Thripp Almost Died Right In Front Of Her Classmates

Amanda Thripp has one of the most memorable moments in Matilda, despite being a relatively minor character in the story. Amanda is one of the other children at Matilda’s school, who is shown to be initially unafraid of Trunchbull. When she stands up for herself against her principal, Amanda finds herself grabbed by the pigtails and flung into the distance by the former Olympic shot putter. As the other students watch, Amanda heads to the edge of the school grounds and only barely clears the spiked fence. Luckily, she lands outside the fence and in a patch of flowers, which softens her landing.

However, if Trunchbull had put just a little less effort into the throw, then Amanda could have been impaled and even killed by the spike fence. Given Trunchbull’s apparent ability to hide her crimes, she could have then said Amanda was hurt playing on the fences in an accident. Trunchbull would have also likely felt no guilt if that had been the result of her actions, given she’s established elsewhere in the movie as a potential murderer. Amanda’s scene was almost a traumatic moment for the entire school, and was only

2

Matilda’s Powers Quietly Make Her Terrifying

Matilda’s abilities in Matilda give her a crucial edge over Ms. Trunchbull and the other people in her life. However, it’s worth how considering how frightening they would look from an outside perspective. Matilda’s abilities give her a telekinetic power that she typically uses to simplify her life, but she’s also adept at using it to torment characters like Trunchbull.

While this is somewhat justified by Trunchbull’s aggressive and antagonistic attacks against Matilda and others, Matilda could have used her powers to attack other people as well. If she had developed those same abilities but had been truly influenced by her parents’ to become cruel like her brother, Matilda could have become a genuine threat. There’s also the chance that her powers could some day become too much for her to control, setting Matilda up for the kind of telekinetic outbursts seen in films like Carrie.

1

Matilda’s Happy Ending Might Not Last Long

Matilda ends on a very sweet note, with Miss Honey formally adopting Matilda and giving her the kind of loving home any child deserves. However, there are enough lingering aspects of the ending that hint things might not work out in the long-run for Matilda. Her family flees the country to avoid the authorities, but their pronounced destination of Guam actually falls under US jurisdiction.

This means they’ll likely be brought to justice, which could end up exposing how Matilda destroyed evidence to keep her parents ahead of the FBI. This could draw attention to Miss Honey’s adoption of the young girl, which could be called into question and even potentially challenged. Matilda could find herself in a lot of trouble, even if her powers were able to remain a secret. If they come to light, she could get even more negative attention. This harsh reality that Matilda‘s happy ending might not last forever adds a bittersweet element to the film’s adorable conclusion.

Source: Radio Times