Curiously uninvolving

Rating: 4/10 (9 November 2008)

I feel churlish giving this film a low score, considering the subject matter. Sorry, though - it really didn't engage me on any level.
Why did it fail when, potentially, it had so much going for it? Firstly, I couldn't engage with any of the characters - something not helped by the fact that most of the actors spoke with middle-class English accents. This was a big oversight on the part of the director, and detracted hugely from the any sense of authenticity the film was meant to have. German accents - or, at the very least, idioms - might at least have made things seem more believable. And that was the other thing... I simply didn't believe any of it. I'm sure the book is not based on any actual historical happening, but I'm perfectly willing to suspend disbelief in that regard. With the film, though, I couldn't do it. It just all rang false: the meetings between the boys, the nature of the friendship, the dialogue... none of it worked for me.
At best, this was a parable about man's inhumanity to man, as demonstrated through the innocent misunderstandings of children. But the moral was overplayed. The film has an important message to convey - but not, I feel, to an adult audience.