The first steps of two prisoners at the end of their odyssey

Rating: 7/10 (2 March 2016)

I got curious about this after I heard about Larson's Oscar for the role. The story is well told and intimately enveloped – both inside the room, as they cope and survive, and outside, as they adjust to a normalized life – and it has its moment of prisoner poetry, but it keeps it light on the drama strings as it filters the heaviness of psychological anguish through the prism of a 5-yr old boy. This could be seen as properly measured, of course, and preferable to most viewers, but I'd expect a more incisive and explorative recount, with all the squalor and darkness such abuse and rehabilitation would entail, before the opening to a new life. One also wonders about the missed chances of making enough noise to be noticed, and I spotted an obvious stylistic error in the camera vehicle's shadow as it follows the captor's truck. The kid was pretty good.