Wonderful Movie

Expected more

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

I wish that I had been able to view this movie before my divorce. Perhaps I would have been better able to understand what my children were going through instead of just the pain of loss, fear, anger, and confusion that they certainly must have felt.We as adults must learn to understand that our children too have feelings and need to be heard as well as understood when we as adults go about changing their lives without first doing everything to keep our families intact.This movie through the eyes and voice of a silent child was insightful and and I think that every adult should view it before going about destroying their lives as well as the lives of their children.

It was this movie which really opened my eyes to the possibilities of one movie can bring.This is a masterpiece which really brings up the feelings, I mean that sort of tension without word. The girl simply closes herself off, while she wants to speak, in her heart, but none of her parents understand.I was very touched by this movie this is a very great piece of work by Rolf, a classic, I'm looking forward to see "The old man who read love stories" and more of his work in the future.I'd recommend this movie to absolutely everyone, be warned though you have to be more patience while watching.

1st watched 10/15/1999 - 8 out of 10(Dir-Rolf De Heer): Excellent story of a child's perspective on life with parents who are having a hard time making things work.Definetly not a hollywood movie, but rather a slice of real life.Why can't us Americans make more time for movie's like this?(This film is Australian made.)

I was very interested in the premise of the story as described on the cover...that a young girl, without the words to express what she feels, becomes convinced of the uselessness of words and stops talking. I think this is brilliant! (I often wonder what is in my own children's minds when they stare off in silence.)However, I was quite unimpressed with the story's unfolding. I was left feeling rather annoyed by the abundant use of voice over which spoiled the whole idea of her silence for me. I wanted to see things as she saw them and feel the tension that only silence can create but instead I was assaulted by a constant stream of interpretations and explanations that were already there in the action or in her beautifully expressive face.While the child actors were usually very engaging, I found it difficult to reconcile the erratic speech patterns as written, especially in the adults, with an interpretation of the world from the young girl's point of view.In all, I was disappointed. Such a wonderful premise but such poor writing and character development.Deep sigh.