I Am David (2003)

a history lesson. more profound than you expect. an admirable young actor. who creates his character with his all senses. a way. meets. and landscapes. and a terrible manner of experiences to give strange, dark and not ordinary meanings to the life. a film who escapes from the easy solutions temptation. and who transforms the viewer in part of a special experience about survive. it is not comfortable to define or write the right review about a film about pain and courage. about the force and the wisdom to survive. and this does it an useful lesson of history. not in ordinary way. but as the tool for understand the lives of many people from East, different ages and genres and pasts. for see. the struggle behind words. so, more than a film or a real case or a touching story. maybe, a remember. or warning.

Honestly, this is the best movie I have seen in ages ! The settings were beautiful. Reminded me of the sheer beauty of the Kiera Knightley version of Pride and Prejudice. The acting throughout was tremendous. The adaptation of the book was craftily done.I loved the young man playing the part of David. His actions and facial expressions were a delight.My favorite part in the movie was the interaction between David and Sophie. This movie is so wonderful it is hard to point out individual accomplishments from within it, but the actress playing Sophie ( Jane Plowright ) was my favorite.Anyone who has not seen this movie should. I cried throughout. A great story and superbly done. I could not rate this movie any higher!!! Bravo !!

When I sat down to watch "I Am David", I was not expecting something monumental. I was not expecting an extraordinary experience even though one tends to when relating to films of this genre and category. "I Am David" is an independent film by Paul Freig about a young boy (Ben Tibber) who escapes from a Stalinist prison camp and makes a long journey to Denmark for freedom and reunification with someone both he and us are totally uninformed about until the last few moments of the picture and when it does come about, the question we ask is: why did they wait this long to inform us? Why did they waste so much time with all of the stuff we didn't care about? "I Am David" is a letdown of the most disappointing level. And by that I mean, I almost hate myself for having to pan this film. The movie has very, very good intentions and yes, it does have a few tender moments that unfortunately wrap up after a matter of seconds. But still, even at a short length of ninety minutes, "I Am David" is really nothing more than a session of ennui.The fault of this movie goes to the screenplay, which was also written by director Paul Freig. When it comes to tearjerkers, which is what this film was meant to be, an intelligent screenplay is absolutely imperative. It's a given. You need a strong story and good characters otherwise you are left with nothing to hold your interest. And "I Am David" has none of that. The story is absolutely flimsy with twelve-year-old David wandering about the countryside, meeting far too many people, staring at things which do not hold our interest as well as his', and mingles with these rather dull flashbacks that are intended to show the real horror of the evil of that days of Stalin's rule. David encounters a great many people and these just prove to be scenes that go into and out of nowhere. I counted at least three long parts to this film that could have either been reworked or excised.But what's worse of all is that little David is almost entirely on the screen and we never, not even once, sympathize or identify with him. David is well-played by Tibber, so the young actor is not to blame. It's the screenplay that is owed the blame. We never come to understand this tragic kid, he's less confused than we are, we don't relate to him, we don't even come to like him because he's such a flat, dull character. When you've got a film that focuses entirely upon one single character, you need to have a strong figure of a human being to begin with. Take for example, James Stewart's character in "Vertigo" (1958), where the film follows his struggles and experiences almost entirely throughout the course of the film, and we come to understand him, sympathize with him, pity him, and relate to him because he's such a well-realized three-dimensional character that we forget we're looking at Jimmy Stewart and not an actual living person with actual problems. Now David in "I Am David" most certainly has problems, but we still don't come to terms with him. And as for the supporting cast, which comes and goes regularly, never leaves any impact during or after their stay.Ultimately, as good as the intentions of Paul Freig were, "I Am David" does not strike with the impact that it was undoubtedly intended to. I appreciated the ambition of this movie very much, for it is tackling a serious subject, but it just does not work because of a rather flimsy story. And again, with such a serious subject as the reign of Stalin and the people who suffered, without a strong story, there is no hope.

As the opening credits explain, after the war ended in 1945 some countries continued to repress those who were different, and we are introduced to David, a 12 year old boy without parents living in a forced labor camp in Bulgaria. For a reason we aren't told, the boy is instructed to escape by climbing over the electrified fence during a 30 second period when the power is turned off. We aren't told why they do this. But we learn that the boy, equipped with knife and compass he is instructed to find by a log after he escapes, is to carry a sealed envelope to Denmark.Young Brit Ben Tibber is David in 1952. This movie follows his journey from the labor camp towards Denmark. Will he make it? If he does, what is in the envelope and what will he find there?James Caviezel is Johannes, one of the adults in he camp. It is a small role that could have been played by any actor. More significant is Joan Plowright as Sophie, the older lady who lives in Switzerland and paints as a hobby. She befriends David and facilitates his crossing from Italy into Switzerland.To me this movie illustrates the difference between a fictional story (which this is) and a real story. In comparison the events in "I Am David" seem contrived and not realistic. The critic Ebert is not very kind to it. I enjoyed this movie, but it never quite seemed realistic.SPOILERS: Throughout the movie we see apparent flashbacks in David's mind, where he would see his real mother. When he gets to Denmark, and with his identification papers in the envelope, he is reunited with his mother. That is why he was told to travel there, by a Bulgarian official who took pity of David and wanted to see him get out of the labor camp.