Highly Overrated But Still Good

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

This movie is fantastic, one of the best I have ever seen in a long time. I was surprised to see that it is from 1997 because until I turned onto BBC2 today, I had never even heard of it.Although this is a simple, some say linear story of Nazi Germany vs the Jewish community telling of one boys struggle to survive on his own to wait for his father, it really draws you in. In the same vein as movies like DARYL, or Finding Neverland, it does not rely cheap gimmicks. Instead we find a gripping a story that draws you in. You become attached to the characters and really feel for them. It stirs up quite a bit of emotion. I was dancing all over the room at one point biting my nails.This is a fantastic story with some brilliant acting. The main focus is on Alex, played by Jordan Kiziuk. Im surprised he hasn't done anything before or since as he played a brilliant part, even if his accent is a little dodgy.The director has done a fantastic job in the telling of the story. It is one of those underrated films that you must watch if you ever get a chance.

I don't know if the story's true - it might be. Makes you think. At times makes you even feel that it is real - right in very front of you.I found myself from all the hiding games. The boy's events were partly an adventure - playing hide and seek with the gestapo (panthers) all by himself with his assistant Snow (Friday). And partly a nightmare where the war grips everything away and leaves you no choice but to crawl into your hideout and cry. You really feel&fear for the kid when soldiers come to find the last of the Jews again and again and again...I think the director made quite a decent job (at least above the average) by telling the story so visually. Not too much talking here - and it is mostly in English, which is odd. Although some scenes I would've done differently. I didn't know the composer was Z.Preisner until read it here, but you sure will notice a meister at work. At least when the ending credits roll.

Not least because it is apparently a true story. Alex is an 11 year old boy, stuck in an almost empty city awaiting his father's return. The plot, though slow is tense, holding an audience's attention throughout. What I most liked about this film was the sense of realness, as I watched it(though the language was English) I felt that somehow I was in fact watching an actually documentary as it unfolded. the clothes the sets the streets, everything was real. The acting is so well performed I could easily assume that these were real people, in particular Jordan Kiziuk's performance of Alex. The ending was tear-jerking, and I mean big blobby tears that swam in torrents. It was an all-round wonder to watch.

i was a little uncertain when i was first introduced to this film...my friend had bought it and it really didn't seem interesting, i mean come on...another nazi v. jew film but i was surprised...this story is origional following a little boy who is left alone and is being hunted by the nazi's. his courage comes from a book and his best friend is a little mouse named snow...the story follows the boy as he decides to wait in dangerous territory for his father, whom although was taken away, promised to return...this is a touching story and a great chapter for anyone iterested in this tragic time period...