From the way the critics talk, you'd think this was some light-weight piece of fluff. It's not. Far from it. I think some critics may be deceived because this seems so much a children's story, but just because the story appears to be told from a child's perspective, does not make it a piece of juvenalia. The
narrator is actually a full grown adult ala CInema Paradiso, and the story he tells, while it is perhaps not as powerful as Cinema Paradiso, is definitely powerful enough. This seems to be a cross between a slice-of-life and a coming-of-age film. It is both, but it is also a story of a mother who endures much with no complaint in order for the members of her family to succeed. She truly is their their bedrock, their stable foundation, and she pays the price for this fortitude.
August 24, 2009
