It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

It is amazing that this film did not receive a theatrical release - surely someone in Hollywood has their head up their ass. This movie could have been a major Oscar contender. It is a beautiful story, told to near perfection. Haley Joel Osment continues to prove he's one of the greatest child actors of all-time, and Liam Hess makes an amazing impression as Tolo. Both performances are Oscar worthy, as are the script, direction, cinematography, and picture.Without revealing too much of the film focuses on the story of a young boy torn from his parents and Jewish upbringing and forced into a Catholic peasant community during the War. The horrors of the War are shown full, and the children of the community become heavily involved with the church as a means to escape the horrors, especially the impressionable, younger Tolo.This is definitely one of the best movies to ever deal with the horrors of World War II, and certainly the best since "Schindler's List."

For several years I have desired to at least SEE this movie! I am so happy to not only have seen the movie, but I now OWN it! This movie has never been theatrically released in the U.S., in fact, I don't believe that any DVD / VHS of it has been released here. I understand that the reason is because it was not "timely" when the shooting was complete. What reason?, why?, & what was Hollywood thinking?!Now this movie is being imported into the U.S. from many other countries by people who desire to watch it! People like me, who are willing to pay to see such a GREAT MOVIE! It is not a well known movie yet! So Hollywood still has a chance. But will they? What I mean is, will Hollywood bring this movie to the big screen, or at least to VHS / DVD here in America?!Oh!, I almost forgot! My review and comments....Yes! This is a GREAT movie! It is a tear jerker though. It is not one I would say young children would enjoy! As far as I know it is not a true story, but it sure is good!SPOILERS:The ending is quite nice, however, what happens before the ending might leave you feeling a bit more sad than happy for the ending itself! In my opinion, this is not bad! It makes us aware! Watch and see for yourself! Thanks....Sean

An absolutely fabulous film.I have just finished watching this film on DVD and I would like to say that it is one of the very best films I have seen for some time. The film, I think, is based from an almost total child's eye view and is pulled of to great effect. The performances from all of them main characters were truly remarkable, and all with very convincing accents, not easy I would imagine for such young actors. However, the entire film is stolen by the performance of one actor, Liam Hess. His performance made the film for me. His acting was superb and believable (as was his accent) and indeed with such a difficult subject that the film was addressing; it makes the film all the more brilliant.I am surprised that this film is almost three years old, and I have not heard of it before this? Was this an oversight on my part or was the film just not `pushed' at the box office? (Spoilers?) The subject contained within the film is a very difficult one to handle and it takes a very skilled team of actors and directors etc. to make sure that the films works, here they do it very well. There are some harrowing scenes, such as the shooting of the peasants and the killing of the boy, which turned the film from a simple yarn into something much more complex. Indeed, it is quite ironic that the killing of the Polish boy, near to the end, caused the life of the Jewish boy to be saved, perhaps some poetic justice? The holocaust is such a terrible thing in the history of the world, and is a very difficult subject to discuss today, however with films like this is makes the subject just that little bit easier to tackle.I give this film 9/10 and would say that this is certainly one for the collection.

I consider this film to be the best one with Haley J. Osment. I must admit that first I watched it only because HJO was starring in it (and because the film was shot in my country, ie Poland). Not only does Haley play wonderfully, but also the film itself is very good, mixing the times of WWII with the fragile construction of children's psyche. The film was made in Poland, so it was very nice to see Haley playing in Polish landscapes. I must say I am very surprised that the film was not yet released in the US. In Poland it was shown in cinemas in 2001. In January 2003 the film was released on DVD. A few weeks ago (November 2003) the movie was on TV so it had really wide audience. I don't understand why such a good movie was not released in the US !! If you want, you can write to me: (make sure it's o2, and not 02).