Really Surprised!

People are voting emotionally.

Absolutely Brilliant!

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

This probably says more about my own gray matter than it does about the movie, but I was a good 20 minutes into "Fugitive Pieces" when I realized I'd already seen it. Still, there's something slightly generic about the film; well more than slightly, as Holocaust-survivor movies have become one of the more popular genres going. Let's just say that for me, "Pieces" was not a very memorable example of the genre.One obvious problem: the protagonist, Jakob, is the least interesting character in the film. Yes, I know that he's a survivor, and that's made him laconic and introverted, but my god is he dull. (I haven't read the book and have no desire to, so perhaps the film is being faithful to the source material. If so this was a mistake.)Another problem: the actor, Stephen Dillane, is at least a decade too old for the part. The scene where he and Rade Serbedzija are shown on camera for the first time is jarring -- Dillane was 50 when the movie was shot; Serbedzija was 60. I find it beyond incredible that not one but two completely hot babes would totally fall for this dweeb. Only in sitcoms, and in the movies.What I liked: this is a beautifully shot movie. Every frame is a marvel of composition, light and color. And while the Jakob character was a bit dull for my liking, I did appreciate that the movie didn't beat us over the head with the Nazis from Central Casting, as if we were just learning about their atrocities. There are a few, but they aren't gruesome nor gratuitous. In fact just about every character in the film is basically a good guy just trying to muddle through.

Fugitive Pieces had a fair bit to live up to. There is a great deal of talent in the cast and the book is incredible, one of the best I've ever read actually. The film may lack the emotional punch and dramatic thrust that the book had but neither does it disgrace it. The book is a very difficult one to adapt(almost unfilmable actually) and the film did so laudably, any film or series that tries to adapt difficult to adapt should be applauded for trying even if they don't entirely succeed.The film does get too wordy at times, the narration is well written and sticks quite faithfully to the tone of the prose of the book but does over-explain too and takes one out of the film, this was a case of the film benefiting more by more show and less tell, as well as having a jumpy nature. The scenes where Jakob is an adult don't make the same impact of the scenes where he is a child, some of the scenes drag with the scenes between Jakob and Alex coming over as a little dull and flatly written(though well acted by Stephen Dillane and Rosamund Pike), and the narrative structure can be a bit jumpy and confused. And the alternate ending didn't work for me with that of the book being much more tonally fitting and powerful, the film's less downbeat one felt out of kilter and abrupt in how it deals with the characters' fates, almost like the writers weren't sure how to end it.Fugitive Pieces on the other hand is very well made, it's gorgeously shot and the scenery and such are evocatively done, especially in the scenes with Jakob as a child. The music score is suitably elegiac, the direction is appropriately nuanced and although uneven the script has some truly memorable lines and in keeping with the stoic and sombre if very poetic nature of the book. The story's also uneven but mostly effectively paced and while I said that the book had more emotional punch and dramatic thrust that doesn't mean that the film is devoid of those qualities, the war scenes with Jakob as a child are incredibly harrowing and poignant. The acting is very good from all involved with the most impressive being Robbie Kay in one of the best child performances personally ever seen- playing the role with so much heart- and Rade Serbedzija who is gruff but sincere. I appreciated the subtlety of Stephen Dillane's performance, Nina Dobrev is charming and Ayelet Zurer is compassionate and heartfelt. Rosamund Pike is more than just eye candy, she does bring life and spark despite the writing lacking lustre in her scenes with Dillane and the role being a little thankless and vastly improved over the somewhat shallow and unlikeable Alex in the book.Overall, uneven and doesn't completely succeed, but very well-made, well-acted and moving, worth seeing. 7/10 Bethany Cox

A very moving and thoughtful film and it does so on a very personal level by examining the experience of a young boy. The film flips back and forth from his war experience to his after-war life in Canada. It deals well with the trauma brought on by war – in this case the Holocaust. This young boy lost his parents and sister to the Nazis. He is forever tormented of what became of his sister who he last saw being forcefully dragged away by the German tormentors. It does make one wonder at the brutality of a people who kill needlessly and never imagine the lifelong suffering that they cause. This is the strength of this movie. This evil is countered by the generosity of his Greek mentor who became his life-long adopted father.As mentioned the film shifts back and forth between the war years and his time in Canada. The periods when he was a young boy are the most engaging parts of the movie. There are times during the Canadian sequences where the film becomes somewhat mundane. The time spent with his first girl-friend is so superficial (the actress is simply eye-candy) that the movie almost loses course and becomes banal.Also some of the sequences when he returns to Greece are almost an advertisement for a beautiful vacation. The settings are so luxurious that they start to detract from the main message of the movie.Also at times the film becomes a little too 'wordy' – there are too many quotations from passages of a book.Nevertheless this is overall a powerful movie.

i hope that this insightful movie educates the world about the atrocities of the holocaust!!! unfortunately there are to many fools in the world who deny that such a thing even happened. this movie is just a glimpse of what hatred can do to our world its amazing to see a nation build themselves up again after so much wrong has been done to them, with their faith intact or even stronger than before! even though this movie does not show the evils of the holocaust in detail, it focuses on the aftermath and the psychological affect it has on generation to come in a subtle manner which proves to be somewhat more effective.