Thursday, April 30, 2015

It Takes Courage to Believe - Reflections on the new movie "Little Boy"

Imagine you are a little boy whose dad has gone off to war and you want him home in the worst way.
And you will do anything to bring him back.

Such is the premise of the new movie "Little Boy."


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a2/Little_Boy_poster.jpg

Actually there is a lot more to the movie - a whole lot more - but I would prefer to let it unfold before your eyes while you sit in the theater and take yourself back to a little California coastal town during World War II.

There you will meet Pepper Busby and his brother London and his dad and mom. You will meet Fr. Oliver and his associate Fr. Crispin. You will meet Dr. Fox and his bully of a son along with all of the other boys and girls in O'Hare, California.

And you will meet Hashimoto,

This is a story about relationships - relationships strained, broken, and damaged. Relationships strengthened, tested and proved. Relationships born from a willingness to look beyond what is seen to believe what cannot be seen.

In other words - faith.

Sidebar: the secular critics did not like the movie.  Ignore them. Go see the movie.  Invite a friend. True, everyone is talking about going to see the new Avengers movie. But it will be around for awhile and there will be long lines.  Go see Little Boy.  Do something good for your soul.  Feed yourself with a story that will ask you to think - am I doing all I could do - to make this world a better place?

Then after you have seen the movie, tell me what relationship affected you the most.

Final point - the acting is wonderful. The characters are well developed and the Jacob Salvati is excellent in the title role. Emily Watson and Tom Wilkinson are masters of their craft and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa is compelling as the hated "enemy" who moves into town. David Henrie shows us a dramatic side and Kevin James offers us a smile in his role as Dr. Fox.

 Little Boy is currently in theaters nationwide.