People are voting emotionally.

There are women in the film, but none has anything you could call a personality.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Jodie Foster (Diedre) solidly plants her feet in this role and has flashes of the brilliance that made her the darling she became. Philip's (Brad Savage) dialogue is at times unrealistically savvy or philosophical as he alternates between being 7 and 37 but he has some good comic lines and Savage performed creditably.The relationship between Eugene (Harris) and Diedre is more poignant in what is, initially, left unsaid. When a child is dying words are cheap, better to make the most of the time left. Despite the sadness of the core theme, there are light moments and it serves the right message: death isn't the important thing, it's what we do before then.Some gripes. For a singer/songwriter, Richard Harris sang the opening/closing theme sounding like a bag of irate cats being pushed through a revolving door, a tender piano instrumental would have served. The overpaid (Dr.) Hallet's callous offhandedness was flawed and grating. If he was using psychology it was from a Martian textbook. Sarah's implication that Diedre was paying for a godless household seemed trite, insensitive and out-of-character.That aside, the film was better than expected. Jodie was more feminine in this role than she was in Freaky Friday or Candleshoe and it suited her. I was glad to catch this example of her on the cusp of greatness.

I have never seen this before until today. The acting was tremendous...I don't know if it is because I have a daughter the same age as Jodi Foster's character or because I am so emotional about my child's future.....but this was a great reminder of how to live life to the fullest and to really treasure every moment you have with your kids...no matter how good or how bad.My daughter was born with health issues and thank God that things worked out for the best. She had an injury at 5 that almost caused her to be paralyzed. I guess I was in a sad state when I saw this but it is truly a good movie. A dad that would do anything to make his girl happy. That dad is me and I love my daughter more than anything.

i was very disappointed of the votes for this movie...why the low ranking? because is a classical? it is a very, very good movie, it is an excellent one, i might say. it has beautiful, brilliant lines...the kid (the sick girl in the movie) is simply genius... just watch the movie, i can't describe it's beauty, words simply are not enough. Yes is a typical one, it makes you cry, is sensible, it has a classical drama...but who are we to judge this in 1976?? i know that many hide behind the concept of strength, behind laughter, behind violence, behind...philosophy. is true, in 2006 homo sapient is dead...mow lives homo videns (sartori). Today, we are very visual, we communicate very often through visual arts, in media, in advertising, in entertainment, in everything...we meed special effects? too bad. this movie is too simple for us? think again...i just love it.

When Jodie Foster-admirers discuss her long career, this title usually gets left out. It's a simple, sentimental story of an ill young girl and the effects her strength and will has on the people around her. Richard Harris is a bit heavy as her father (and I could have done without his non-singing over the credits: "Deeer-draaah!"), but Foster makes the most of her scenes, particularly with William Windom as a doctor surprised by her maturity and Brad Savage as a local boy who's curious about sex (they hold hands and lie together on the beach in a stunningly delicate moment). Based on the flop Broadway play "Isle of Children", which starred a post-"Miracle Worker" Patty Duke, the movie gets a little hectic in its final stages as the filmmakers try to wrap up the story with a birthday party sequence I didn't much care for. Still worth-seeing for Foster, luminous at eleven years and holding this picture together. **1/2 from ****