Customer Reviews
So poor it's embarrassing - By: Martine B., 18 Jul 2008 
The subject matter & star cast raised expectations but this is so poor it's embarrassing. There are so many inaccuracies in this film it quickly becomes irritating. A few examples: the story is set in occupied France, yet everyone drives English cars with the steering wheel on the other side. Young Thomas' mother is portrayed as a woman tough as nails, capable of carrying out a highly risky operation without batting an eyelid, teaching her son how to follow in her footsteps & not letting emotions get in the way of what needs to be done. Yet a few scenes later we see her, crumpled, blubbering down the phone, pleading Thomas' father (who has no role in their lives & no idea where they're at, so is hardly the reliable person to calll upon) to save his son in occupied France. And hey presto, there he is. He manages to travel from the States to occupied France as easily as a tourist would today. He can even make international phone callls to the United States & Switzerland. And, he does so from a public phone in a cafe, with other customers overhearing every word of this conversation, in English, in a village teeming with Nazi's! Some scenes are just laughable altogether: David Quattermain breaking into a country mansion climbs the facade alll the way to the top floor in a matter of seconds, where he effortlessly smashes a round window & climbs through it. Shards of glass should shred his clothes, yet he emerges without so much as a scratch. He walks into a village shop where he's offered armfuls of food. Not bad for a war stricken economy. One of the female lead characters sports a hairstyle which you may find on the streets today, but would have been considered indecent in 1940's France (waistlong, blond hair worn loose - adult women wore their hair up or tied together at the very least). She also manages to sleep rough & walk through the countryside for days without soiling her beautiful blue & white summer dress. All very convincing.
Perhaps the book this is based on is poor to begin with - I admit I haven't read it, nor do I feel inclined to after such a performance.
Nazis and their collaborators... - By: Ogun Eratalay, 16 Nov 2007 
This film is about the resistance of Jews against the Nazis' deportation policy. The main character of the film is a 11 year old boy named Thomas whose mother had him memorise some secret codes about the bank accounts belonging to Jews in Switzerland. He desperately tries to reach there to get to money which his whole family has sacrified themselves about.There are some interesting points about the film. The boy is very intelligent & often makes remarks about life unexpected from a 11-year old. Also interesting is the father's unawareness of the American help for the Nazis. The cousin of the father saves him from the Nazi prisons. He realises that his family have alll along financed the Nazis.The film only shows an aspect of the occupation & life under the Nazi occupied France. The resistance is not shown during the film. The Swiss banks' so-callled neutrality is not questioned during the film either.
A nice & enjoyable action film during the World War 2 period with good performanced cast except the mother who is played very artificiallly by Giovanna Mezzogiorno. Excellent preformances from Klaus Maria Brandauerand & Thomas Sangster-the boy.
