Sadly Over-hyped

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

David, a 12 year old boy lost his parents in a post WWII camp in Bulgaria. On his deathbed his father gave him a letter of introduction and told him to travel to relatives in northern Europe. They would look after him. The film details David's adventures on his epic journey.The film unfortunately suffers from a few improbabilities: The letter that David had to show once he arrived in Denmark were subjected to conditions other 'normal' letters wouldn't survive, such as David jumping from the ship into the sea and spending who knows how long in the water (even if it's in a state of the art 1952 style waterproof container which David surely did not have), and having been carried in all kinds of weather for weeks and many hundreds of kilometers. Yet when David finally opened the letter, it looked rather pristine and crisp apart from some yellowing.Then the language issue: we see David traveling from Bulgaria, Greece and Italy to Switzerland, and everywhere he communicated fluently in English, with the locals all understanding him perfectly well. That in 1952, half a century before the globalization we see today where command of English worldwide has become the norm?The criticism apart, I found 'I am David' a gripping tale of perseverance that had me glued to the screen. More positives are the beautiful photography making this film a feast for the eye, and with a great soundtrack too. Acting by the young protagonist, Ben Tibber, is credible and really good. His body language, his large fearful eyes carried a message difficult to put into words. 7/10.

Truly one of the most heart warming "victim of war" stories I've read, and to see a movie made from this book was cool. The movie itself was very well done. Although the one thing I do think was not played upon very well/enough was that David never knew anything about anything really since his entire life had pretty much been spent in the camp. So when he saw an orange for the first time.....well you can imagine the description of this unknown object in the book as opposed to what they film portrayed. Little things like this.... the church and Mother Mary, the book he kept seeing and the author, I do suggest reading it and watching the movie as well. Both were excellent. As far as the cinematography goes, in my humble opinion it was well done with riveting scenes atop ocean side cliffs, gardens, the mountains, the camp.. all was so full of details it almost made me loose myself in it like i did when I was a kid watching movies, totally absorbed.

This movie insulting one of the most tolerant nations in the world - Bulgaria. My country during the WW2 is part of German Alliance, but she managed to save your Israelite. After coup d'etat by the communist she joins the Allies and fight against the Germans... In 50s we are part of Warsaw Treaty but we are not part of the Soviet Union. Belene Prison Camp is created for the most dangerous enemies of the republic (and inconvenient for the communist party people) but never for children. It's the most difficult for escape prison on the Balkans. It's recorded only two escapes in 70-80s. In the movie the camp looks like Germans concentration camp!? Nobody in Belene wasn't shot for soap... Obviously the entire movie is filmed in Bulgaria. Italy is Baltchik, in Switzerland have orthodoxes church... The boy managed to survive 3 weeks with chunk of bread. He managed to cross one of the most guarded borders in Europe - Bulgarian - Greece. First, after the boy is seen by the guards immediately is send operative group to capture him. The border is not only one fence, it separate on two sectors upper and downer(the actually border) on the upper has guards with dogs and fence with wires which on contact immediately signals in guard station, after the fence have 3km mine field. Crossing the border is impossible the guards shoot on sight...P.S. Sorry for the bad English.

The last portion of this film, with tender scenes between JOAN PLOWBRIGHT and BEN TIBBER, reminds me of a similar survival theme from '48's THE SEARCH, where the boy has to learn to trust adults again after brutal wartime separation from his mother. Ben Tibber's sensitive portrait of the boy and Joan Plowbright's equally moving portrayal of the motherly artist who takes him in, are the best things about I AM David.Before that, the story plods along at the beginning with a labor camp sequence where the boy is being given instructions by a man on how to escape and deliver a certain document to Denmark. Flashbacks during the course of the film fill us in on the harrowing events in the labor camp that led to the boy's desire to escape. His friend, Johannes (JAMES CAVIEZEL), it turns out, is a brave man who sacrifices his life for the boy, David.David keeps one step ahead of the authorities as he manages to escape, survives with what little money he has, rescues a young girl from playmates who tied her up in a burning barn and ends up for awhile enjoying family life in the Italian countryside. But all the while, he's hearing the warning voice of a man telling him: "Don't trust anyone." And he doesn't.He's not even sure of Sophie (JOAN PLOWBRIGHT) who takes him under her wing, a good-hearted woman whose young son died and assumes a motherly relationship with David. Their scenes together in the countryside are the most touching and believable moments in the whole story and lead towards a happy ending for the boy, who is reunited with his mother for the rather abrupt finale. The film's biggest assets are the natural performance of BEN TIBBER in the central role and the gorgeous color photography in natural outdoor settings.