Wonderful Movie

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Sentimental? Yes. Life-Affirming? Yes. Heartwarming? Yes. Mawkish? Definitely no. In short a wonderful effort with top marks to everyone involved beginning, of course, as always, with the writing, through directing to acting. I have a healthy streak of cynicism in my makeup and I'm usually among the first to spot 'manipulation' and, in the immortal words of Damon Runyon, deal with it accordingly. This time around, however, I was content to overlook contrivance - a saintly evacuee, illiterate and battle-scarred who utters not one word of complaint/reproach against the mother who has almost succeeded in scarring him (both mentally and physically) for life; a near hermit, embittered by his own tragic loss in the War before this one, turning his face against his neighbours, finding happiness almost against his will - and rejoice in great acting that is greater for being restrained. A must-see.

Sometimes I watch a movie and am really impressed by it – and still it is not easy to explain why I liked it that much. This is mostly true for the uncommon movies – the ones one can hardly compare with the rest out there. Goodnight Mister Tom is one of these special movies. There is a lot of emotion in that movie – and the acting was so good that while watching the movie, I was crying and laughing as the story went on. The young Nick Robinson – is a young boy (William) evacuated from London because of the air strikes there during the Second World War. Mr. Tom played by John Thaw is an old man leaving in the village the evacuated children were send to.At first Tom refuses to take any responsibilities - such as taking care for a troubled young lad – but accepts since he is left without a choice. During the stay Mr. Tom discovers how horrible the life has been for the William – alongside his luggage his mom sent a belt and written instructions to the host of her son – not to hesitate to use it. This belt is berried in the field – never to be used in such a brutal manner. Mr. Tom provides a real home for William, and the boy is happy with his new life, he goes to school, makes new friends and discovers hidden talents. All of the sudden a letter William is called home in London with a letter mentioning that she is not feeling well…and it starts all over again – only this time it gets much worse… There are many feelings you can sense in this movie – love, fear, sadness, happiness, pain, hope – and much more. Goodnight Mr. Tom is another masterpiece of the British cinema comparable only with others such as Dear Frankie and Billy Elliot – if one is to compare. I have truly enjoyed watching it and highly recommend it. Before finishing this review I would also like to mention the great performance of Thomas Orange in the role of Zac – reminded me of a friend of mine from my own childhood ( :

Firstly I would like say, this film was a poor adaptation of a good book. The fact is, it does not translate well to cinema. Firstly, they got Willy Beech wrong. He looks about 12 or 13 in the movie, whilst in the book he was 9. He didn't seem so innocent or so vulnerable and in fact sometimes he seemed a bit of brat. The Willy in the book was incredibly weak and timid and you actually felt tremendous pity for him, something on the contrary in the movie. Also, something you can't blame the movie for, but is still a negativity, is the short length of the movie. Everything seemed rushed, and it would jump quite happily from one event to the other, while in the book the point was to show the steady progress in Willy. They got Zach and Willy's friendship nearly non-existent (Considering they were supposed to be best of friends), and when Zach dies, you can't really understand too much why Willy would be so shocked, especially if you hadn't read the book and realize how close they were. And so much for the "Horrors of War", this movie definitely did not show any signs that the World War 2 was affecting anyone, even when Tom goes to London, he just seems to walk around happily asking where "Willy" is.But hypothetically if I ignored the comparison with the book, it would still be pretty average. Not AWFUL, but definitely not above the average and especially not worthy of an "8.1" rating. A big plus however is the acting by John Thaw (playing Tom Oakley) which is a joy to watch on screen. In a nutshell however, this is a poorly executed movie that had a lot of potential from the high standard of the novel.

The plot of GOODNIGHT MR TOM on paper makes it seem we are in for a large dose of maudlin,sickly sentiment.But,talented director Jack Gold is an expert on touching the emotions in the right manner,and it emerges instead as a compelling,deeply moving wartime drama with excellent production and lead performances.One of the best,if not the best TV movies of the 1990's which possibly would've had even greater success if it had been released in the cinemas.The evacuation of children to countryside towns and villages in World War II was of course a common practice,but in the case of the young boy here was doubly important because of a wretched home life in the UK's capital.The horrors of war on the home front are not drifted over though,and the construction of the film until it's throat-lumping,misty-eyed ending leaves us with a sense of optimism despite what has happened before.It is almost(but not quite)worthy of comparison with the finale to IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE(1946).All in all,a modern classic.