A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

This is a film about a Jewish teenager (Haas) who has no idea what his Jewishness means and meets a Jewish girl who knows nothing else.The plot of the film allows us to watch him learn how Alan controls his temper and becomes a man while dealing with very serious problems as he slowly draws her into the world they live in.Anyone who has dealt with mental illness knows that progress is not linear. Many backward steps are taken for every one that moves forward. In that the film is slightly deceptive: it leads us to believe that his treatment of her was like solving a geometry problem: each part contributes to the whole. If the part does not fit don't use it.Movies are only two hours long. Choices have to be made. David and Lisa is probably better if one seeks accuracy. The choice here was character.Alan grew. He learned how to give all he could to someone else. He was not thinking of his reward: he was thinking of her. As much as anything, his early failures brought about that development.For such a young actress, Vanessa Zaoui had a wide range of emotions to deal with and she does it well. She went from compulsion (paper tearing) to transference (talking through her doll) random intense fear but timid acceptance of the outside world, to catatonia. At each step Alan, her unselfish teacher and leader, knows instinctively what to do simply by loving her as he would a much younger handicapped sister. He slowly learns how to sensitively communicate the very essence of himself.I would not call this an entertaining film, but it is a very good study of two young teens who teach each other much.

Normally, I wouldn't go for a movie centered around two young teens but this is well-done and one of the actors, Lukas Haas, is a veteran despite his age. (He was the little Amish boy in "Witness").Haas is outstanding in here, particularly in conveying his feelings throughout the film. It's a story that could easily be trite or corny but winds up appealing with no unpleasant scenes overdone. That could have happened since the girl (Vanessa Zaoui) is a traumatized kid with several mental problems. Michael Gross and Amy Aquino, meanwhile, do a decent job of playing Jewish parents and it's nice to see a father portrayed in a positive light, for a change.In summary, a good and somewhat underrated melodrama

When I found out there was a movie based on the book, I was thrilled and I immediately checked it out. I was sorely disappointed. Truth be told, that might be an unfair assessment; I enjoyed watching the actors who played Naomi,Mr. and Mrs. Silverman, and Mrs. Liebman. My main complaint was with the one who played Alan. I couldn't stand his voice (talk about irritating!) and I didn't like the way that he played Alan. I think that the book portrays him with more spunk and life. When I watched the movie, though, I kept on thinking, "What on earth does Shaun SEE in this guy? Go get some real friends." One bad actor may not turn a movie into a bomb, but this is a story that really needs the leads to pull through.

I highly recommend this film for family viewing, at least for preteens and older. Naomi is a French girl who has been traumatized by witnessing Nazi brutality against her parents, but the dark aspect of this situation is dealt with directly only briefly as a background for Naomi's unwillingness to speak to anyone. The majority of the film is much lighter, without being unrealistically so. Naomi and her new American acquaintance, Alan(both 14 years old or so), find a unique method of communication, and everyone hopes this will be the key to unlock her world. Lukas Haas and Vanessa Zaoui give outstanding, believable performances, outperforming most of the adults in the cast. They play Alan and Naomi, who deal with issues of peer pressure, parent pressure, trust, betrayal, jealousy, fear, and friendship. Fortunately, Hollywood's usual distortions and sugar coatings are missing in this one. Even the typical "and they lived happily ever after" ending for this type of film was avoided, without ending on a sour note.