Seeing is Believing

Reading a novel is great in many ways, and usually more enjoyable than watching a film of the same story because of the farther detail a novel provides. However, as the saying goes, "seeing is believing." Novels provide readers with visuals through text; however, in a film, viewers actually see and witness events that are occurring, seeing things and understanding things differently than they would reading the novel.
The first thing I'd like to point out is, unlike in the novel, right from the beginning of the film, Paul Marshall seems to be extremely creepy. The way he looks at Lola is intense, and when he tells her to "bite it! You have to bite it," his facial expression and tone of voice gives of the vibe that he has some weird obsession with her, and even enjoyment of watching her bite the chocolate bar. He also proves to be temperamental in this same scene, when he angrily tells the twins, "well your daddy was wrong!" He seemed offended that the twins said they're father told them that there wasn't going to be a war, and by Marshall's reaction, you can see that he wanted to be right and in control.
Another example of this is when Lola was asked if it was really the twins who caused the marks on her arm. She immediately looked at Marshall, which is when he admitted to witnessing the attack, and claimed to have helped Lola, which he said is how he got his "battle wounds." This was actually explained in the novel; however, in the film, seeing their reactions and hearing their tone of voice, enhances the assumptions of Marshall being a creep, and violent as well.
The second example of "seeing is believing," is the love that Robbie and Cecilia have for one another. This is also described in the novel; however, the views of each of them physically in different places, but clearly in the same place of mind, have an impact of the way viewers understand that love. The camera goes back and forth, from Robbie to Cecilia, before Robbie wrote the letter to her. You can see they are both thinking about each other. Their minds are in the same place, longing for each other, even after the argument over a broken vase.
The film also brings enhancements to their love by showing Robbie's thoughts about Cecilia. During the war scene, near the end, Robbie's thoughts are filmed for viewers to see for themselves what's really on his mind. He's going crazy with thoughts of Cecilia and going home to her. He has flashbacks of his life, with the love of his life, Cecilia. This proves his love for her is real, as she was his last thought before he died; she was all that mattered. Actually witnessing his thoughts truly reveals his love for her, better than text in a novel could describe.
One last example of bringing the novel to life is the way Briony's guilt was captured. When she was giving her witness statement, she proved to be unsure of what she saw, by the way she was pausing when saying it was Robbie she saw with Lola in the forest. She had doubts, but still went ahead with her original accusation. However, when Robbie was being taken away, she saw Robbie's mother screaming "Liars!" while hitting the police car, which caused her to question herself. This was done by the close-up view of the tear built up in Briony's eye, which proves that she felt guilty for what she had just done, meaning she is still unsure that her statement is correct. In the novel, you don't see or even believe that Briony has any guilt at all at this point. Therefore, the film, allowing the audience to have a better understanding because of visuals on screen instead of text, creates more of an impact on viewers, because once again, seeing is believing!