Amazing, powerful film.

Rating: 10/10 (4 December 2011)

I was at Best Buy and rifling through the $7.99 Blu-ray bin and came across this film. I'm sorry I didn't see this a lot earlier. To me anyway, it was as powerful and mesmerizing as even Shawshank Redemption. I was glued to the TV, and the ending, while predictable, was no less dramatic. Excellent acting all the way around, including Vera Farmiga, one of the most beautiful women on screen. It's not a Holocaust movie as much as movie about family and friendships. The German boy does not yet understand that this Jewish boy should not be his friend. His innocence keeps him from learning the true meaning of his father's work. While the sister learns and converts, the mother realizes the wrong in what the father is doing. There is a scene where one of the Jews tends to a cut on the boy's knee; when she is informed that the Jew carried her boy inside and dressed the wound, the mother's compassion emerges as she thanks him. I cannot recommend this movie enough.