Hard to watch even here in the states where echoes of the Bulger case do not blot out the film as a simple slice of fiction. Sadly in the US, there have been enough horrifying instances of a crime committed by youths so underage that it is hard to grasp.
The acting here is amazing, and we see evil surely, but we see in not in mere monochromatic view. The thought of the sins (and or absence) of a father have a meaning as severe as the underlying crime that propels the action here.
I'm generally a fan of second chances in life, but there do seem to be some points that are past return. I suspect that is the problem with this film, if one comes in solidly aware of such points, the film will just irritate you. And the filmmakers end up being perhaps a bit too compassionate, whereas for me, I felt the angst of being in the middle, and the pull towards compassion then would be met with some resistance.
However, the idea of some pain inside that you cannot share and cannot unburden, if you take the specific circumstances here away, and just think about that, it is rather remarkable. As is the depiction of it by Andrew Garfield here. And the whole ensemble really, just done with grace and grit.
Well worth viewing if you are not repelled by the concept and/or parallels to the real world. I hold this in contrast to Lilya-4-Ever as a film that faces a painful aspect of life, without taking the easy nihilist angle.
The acting here is amazing, and we see evil surely, but we see in not in mere monochromatic view. The thought of the sins (and or absence) of a father have a meaning as severe as the underlying crime that propels the action here.
I'm generally a fan of second chances in life, but there do seem to be some points that are past return. I suspect that is the problem with this film, if one comes in solidly aware of such points, the film will just irritate you. And the filmmakers end up being perhaps a bit too compassionate, whereas for me, I felt the angst of being in the middle, and the pull towards compassion then would be met with some resistance.
However, the idea of some pain inside that you cannot share and cannot unburden, if you take the specific circumstances here away, and just think about that, it is rather remarkable. As is the depiction of it by Andrew Garfield here. And the whole ensemble really, just done with grace and grit.
Well worth viewing if you are not repelled by the concept and/or parallels to the real world. I hold this in contrast to Lilya-4-Ever as a film that faces a painful aspect of life, without taking the easy nihilist angle.