You can always see its intentions through the script...

Rating: 2/10 (13 February 2009)

This film left me in a funny mood. It left me both feeling cynical and shallow, and a bit angry at the studios and the directors for being cynical enough to engage it projects like this. Is almost exploative. Exploitation veiled in humanism. Its a well done film. Its got Tewlis in it, and it looks good without being selfcounscous about it. It also left me pondering how much originality should be accounted for. Is a good film or is a good film whether its been done before or not? Arguably, the amount of similar films shouldn't really reflect on the film itself. but in that case clichÃ©s wouldn't even be possible, you should apply some kinda quotient and WW2 and the Holocoust is some of the most mined subjects, hence its decidedly harder to make a good film about it. Maybe i would have liked this more if it were done twenty years ago?? Uh, yeah, maybe a little bit. And really maybe that little bit would have had an deciding factor. Problem is, its far to easy to tell the intentions of this film. If you're reading the premise, you can probably figure it out, and its message, is so easy to spot through the script its sometimes a little embarrassing. There are some nice parts with the family dynamic, in fact, this parts are far more interesting then main one with the little boy. Maybe if they had concentrated on that one. Shame they Didn't. As it stands this film comes across as tailor-made for unimaginative teachers with a ending you cant help but roll your eyes at.
Also kids are smarter that that.
Check out Shop On Mainstreet instead. Thats a great one.