Nonureva Really Surprised!

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Jemima It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

sixpence1106 I generally stay away from war movies. Its hard for me have to watch what people have to endure on a daily basis. It is especially hard to have to think about all the children out there who are orphans because of it. That is the basis of the movie. Sharkey has papers to get a 9 yrs old boy out of the country, so he searches for a boy that fits the profile. He runs into a gang of orphans who banned together to take care of each other. The boy who designated himself the leader will only let him take a grown boy with learning disabilities. As Sharkey continues on his quest, a young boy sneaks away from the group to see if Sharkey will take him. He is the right age, so Sharkey sets off with the boy. This is the story of their journey of running into other gangs, road blocks, dodging gun fire and other dangers. When he gets to his destination, he wonders if the boy is in just as much danger. He has to figure out how to get him out of that situation. It was a good movie, depressing and disturbing at times. But it was made very well and the acting by Sharkey and Vlado was wonderful. I am sure it did a good job of realistically depicting the horrors of war.

marieinkpen this film is far from perfect but any quibbles don't really amount to much, which is odd because the main quibble is that bob hoskins isn't very good in it. in some ways it doesn't really matter because the young boy playing his co-star is absolutely exceptional. bob hoskins' accent changes every single time he opens his mouth - at first i thought he was just doing a very embarrassing eastern European voice, then it went to his usual geezerish tones, at times he sounded like he was going to elocution lessons, and then there was the bearish grunts. also, his acting in the scene where he thinks he is going to be shot as a spy is dire - his facial expressions just looked like he'd been served with some soggy cucumber sandwiches at a tea party. the other quibble is that occasionally the music tries to milk an emotion when direction is really not needed, although on the whole the music is great. on the plus side is the child actor, & some awful war scenes of what it is like for the average person caught up in a war, scenes of victims, and the concern that how the hell can a child settle back into a normal existence who has witnessed such horror and lived this life

neiljones1981 Every once in a while, a movie comes along that you'll just fall in love with despite having never heard of it previously. I discovered this gem of a movie when I was looking for items to add to my online DVD rental list. One viewing later and I loved it, in fact for the whole time I had this DVD (about ten days IIRC) I think I watched it at least half a dozen times.Set in 1995 in war-torn Bosnia, a man called Sharkey sets out to find a small boy to take out of the country for child trade purposes. This small boy turns out to be Vlado Petric, an orphan of the conflict and with hardened survival instincts. Vlado has a heart of gold, being overly protective towards a member of his gang who is regularly pushed around by the others, but this kid isn't totally selfless, and puts himself forward to go with Sharkey to leave Bosnia but Vlado really wants to go to Norway where the Eskimos live.The outbound trip is one fraught with peril, realisation and hope. Sharkey is a man on a mission, just doing his job. Vlado is just a boy and his being a boy (by his actions) initially irritates Sharkey but there is a bond forming between the pair. This doesn't stop them having a huge argument though. The scene where Vlado single handily saves Sharkey from being shot dead cements their bond, and is one of the highlights of the movie.Bob Hoskins stars in this movie, although it's always been kind of hard to take him seriously in any acting role ever after you've seen him in Super Mario Brothers in a plumber's outfit. Don't even go there. Hoskins acts very well here, a good solid performance.Sergiusz Zymelka steals the entire show for me. A great little Polish child actor who's capable of handling anything that this movie can throw at him and a lot more to boot. The performance is virtually flawless from Sergiusz but then the role demands it really. Nevertheless, he can act Bob Hoskins off the screen any day (a feat which isn't really all that difficult IMO).In short - great movie, worth watching, great acting, good solid drama with a spot of action and a sense of "all will be right with the world one day" about it.

arric Perhaps it was because I had missed two other movies because the Sundance volunteers couldn't give directions to save their lives (only partially kidding, I know there were some people there who were doing great work), but when I finally got to actually see a movie at this year's Festival I was excited to begin with. But being the cynical b***ard that I am that excitement would have worn off if the movie I was watching would have sucked. Luckily, it didn't.Expecting a semi-documentary on grainy film focusing in on igloos, I was surprised to see a surly Bob Hoskins fill the screen. In your typical An-American-passport-will-get-you-through-almost-anything sort of way this movie progressed rather nicely. (What's with movies where the local "police" feel free to take passports? e.g. The Mexican and this movie) What are they going to do with them anyway?)It tells a story that is not so heartwarming when you find out certain things about Hoskins character but he does a nice 180. How he finds the little fella he is escorting across the border after they separate is a slight suspension of disbelief but was done in a charming enough way that I was willing to do so.A little harder to believe was the pride of the little boy in some scenes. When give the ability to get out of his war-torn country he definitely displays some spunk that I don't know would still be present in a small child in the middle of the war. But children and movies surprise us all the time.Check this out when you get a chance.