Too unsubtle in its drama

Rating: 3/10 (20 February 2010)

Excellent art direction, excellent acting, good cinematography. The score was the best part though - a very nice three note ostinato alternating with quiet melody in the cello. The beginning motif is one of the simplest but most affecting since Jaws.
Unfortunately, the movie failed in its screenplay. It relied for emotional impact far too much on trite horrible scenes, rather than eliciting powerful emotional responses more subtly.
For example, there are numerous scenes of horrible gore, and there is a long scene with dead children. Obviously, a scene with dead children, especially of a father crying over them, is unsubtle.
In a good film, the emotional climax comes from something whose meaning derives from the film itself. It's cheap and unsubtle, and kind of boring, to rely on old standbys like deformity, gore, and child corpses.