I saw this movie as a child, and I think it is a GREAT movie, and it does show the signs and effects of child abuse and I think its a great way to help inform people of how child abuse IS real and that it DOES affect our population. As far as the few people who don't really understand the movie and think the younger brother is just a metaphor, they need to watch the movie again and notice how the mother talks to not just Mikey, but also talks to Bobby, and at the end, when he is gone, his mothers asks Mikey, "Where is Bobby, Where is Your Brother?!" and this statement clearly specifies that Bobby is NOT a metaphor created by Mikey to hide the abused side of him, Bobby is a real person and Mikey's little brother. I recommend this movie to Anyone who wants to see a good movie about True Brotherly Love and just how even the worst situations can bring two people even closer to each other, even though it may be pushing them apart in a different way.
Destiny
The horrors of child abuse and the desperate efforts to remain hopeful in its wake are portrayed well in this film. Abusers often select one child for the abuse and use the terror of possible abuse to keep the others in line. We never see the original abandoning/abandoned father either, which speaks to the possibility that he was cut from the same cloth as King and mom was as much a perpetrator as a victim in her choice of abusive spouses.
I am confused by the ending but if suicide was the choice, the child could have seen the inevitable future and decided to take control of the means of his end: in hope rather than dispair.
This is a film about the quite desperation of being a prisoner in one's own home with the terror that it brings. Sanity can only be found in fantasy and imagination. Remember that Jennie in the film Forest Gump wanted to be a bird and fly away from her abuser as well. She too self destructed. Abuse is a slow dripping poisen that claims its victims when young.
Well Acted But Hardly A Classic
I found the other reviews very interesting. Yes, the movie is very well acted, which is the only reason I gave it 2 stars but frankly the abuse was so horrific I found the movie barely watchable.
I admit that when watching a movie I look for something to entertain & escape into. If I want reality, I'll watch CNN. For that reason, while I know child abuse exists & think it needs to be acknowledged to end it, I don't really want to watch someone hurt children (& animals). Maybe part of the reason I had such a problem with this movie was the fact that everyone talks about what a great children's movie this is. It's only appropriate if your idea of a children's movie is "Friday the 13th". The violence is WAY too intense to let children watch.
This heartfelt drama tells us it's an AIDS movie that's not about AIDS. When this film keeps its promise (roughly the first three-quarters), it's a winner, a film about a truly notable friendship between two 11-year-old boys. Diagnosed with AIDS from a blood transfusion, Dexter (Joseph Mazzello) has gratefully bypassed most of Kübler-Ross's stages of death. He is, however, an outcast among his peers until Erik (Brad Renfro) comes along and finds him quite normal. Their bond deepens as they look for a cure for the disease using odd forms of scientific theory. Part educational text, part Mark Twain adventure, part tearjerker, the movie relies on something not found in movies these days: a love affair of male friendship. At its center are two of the best pre-actors around. Mazzello... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Brad Renfro - Joseph Mazzello Director(s): Peter Horton DVD Release Date: Released the 23 November 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Kevin Costner is the big name here, but the film belongs squarely to Elijah Wood, who plays his son. The film deals with the children of a Vietnam veteran in 1970 Mississippi; as their dad (Costner) tries to cope with posttraumatic stress disorder after serving in the war, the kids build a mammoth tree house in the woods--then must defend it against the local white-trash bullies. The film includes a particularly harrowing contest involving a swim across the reservoir of a decrepit water tower; still, director Jon Avnet can't avoid a certain "can't we all just get along" didactic message. That doesn't put a damper on the youthfully natural quality of the child actors, and Costner is actually quite winning as a sensitive, troubled soul. --Marshall FineMore Info about this DVD Actor(s): Elijah Wood - Kevin Costner Director(s): Jon Avnet DVD Release Date: Released the 13 April 1999 Usually ships in 24 hours
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this was good movie for caucklin and wood they both had amazing chemistry together e. wood mom just passed away and his uncle told his father to let him stay few weeks with his cousin (m. caucklin) the father agreed and dropped his son off to spend winter break with the uncle and his family i like how caucklin fooled everyone about him being a great kid and looked at e. wood like he was crazy becaus e wood was trying to convince everyone that m. caucklin was a phony who was dangerous m. caucklin n da movie, he drowned his baby brother in the tub and nearly killed his kid sister in the icing pond mark (e. wood) try to tell his aunt but she didn't belive him until henry ( tried to kill her too at the end of the movie but e. wood came to make the save and m. caucklin got what he did to... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Macaulay Culkin - Elijah Wood Director(s): Joseph Ruben DVD Release Date: Released the 03 February 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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If you have never been introduced to Thora Birch-this is the one to see. I don't know if this was her first movie or not but she is really young in this film. If there were ever a star born "this is it". She is just unbelievable. Griffin and Johnson are really great too. This movie is actually worth watching for the scene location alone. More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Melanie Griffith - Don Johnson - Elijah Wood Director(s): Mary Agnes Donoghue DVD Release Date: Released the 03 August 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Chain of Fools, brings to the screen the story of a barber who finds himself involved in the theft of rare Chinese coins.
Overall, the acting is very good (Jeff Goldblum, Steve Zahn, Salma Hayek and the rest of the cast do a good job), but it's Tom Wilkinson that really steals the show for me.
As for the plot, it is interesting, though it lacks that extra something to put it over the top.
In short, far from being a masterpiece, it is a movie worth watching, though you might not want to go as far as purchasing it.
More Info about this DVD Director(s): Pontus Löwenhielm - Patrick von Krusenstjerna DVD Release Date: Released the 15 February 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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