It seems that Hollywood just can't slam Christians enough. Evidently Charles Dickens is the savior of the island and the Bible and Jesus aren't. Why not just show how the book was an encouragement to the people of the island because it helped them forget their troubles? Why did it have to pit Christianity against Charles Dickens and make Christianity the enemy. This is very offensive to me as a Christian. Yet over and over we seen it in movie after movie. Christians are made out to be the bad guys. Why? True Christians have done so much for this world...including New Guinea.

Stunning, stayed glued to the screen. The actress who played Matilda was amazing and her emotional range was some of the best acting I have ever seen. Suffer the little children. This movie made me realize how fortunate I am.

So: it's like this. We all know that Lorey is a splendid actor. Strange to the point of weird. Quirky. Rudge. So this main character is no stretch, compared to "House." Plot engaging in laying out the love children and adults alike take in the telling and acting out of a good story by Dickens. Credible that a caricature war lord would misunderstand "PIP." But: assuming that the story of the lead female is true, the script writers didn't understand trauma. They used a horrific moment of a murder to shock and awe in ways that were completely unnecessary to get the point across. Worse: there was no redemption for the viewers. Instead, the screenwriters portrayed the girl as not shedding a tear for her mother, running into the arms of her father, and seamlessly making a transition to a completely different culture. Back to Lorey: given his involvement with the film, it left me disappointed that he didn't insist on a higher order of scriptwriting. Again, if it's true that she didn't care in any way for her mother, well, then that's her story. But then the producers needed to consider whether to make this movie, at all. I can't recommend.

This film is set during the Bougainville conflict. It is both inspiring and difficult to watch. The at first reluctant teacher, Mr. Watts, gives the children on the war-torn island a gift which will remain with them for the rest of their lives. In this film, one sees both the best and worst of humanity.

The story was nice at first, emotional but when it close to the ending where the military came to the island and brutally kill some of the characters was so heartbroken. I could not watch this movie with my kids as they are 5 and 6 years old. And as a parent, I always watch the movie first before me and my kids watch it to make sure that it is clean and safe for them to watch. So, if you, parents are looking for a good movie to watch with your kids, I definitely would skip this one. I just can't let my kids watch the violence and how they brutally kill people in this movie. This is just too sad to watch!

After reading other reviews, I've realized you'll either love it or hate it. There's much to be recommended here: sacrificial love, love of literature, imagination, and teaching; family loyalty. It reminded me quite a bit of "A Town Like Alice," in that the violence depicted does have a teachable point. In the hardest and most violent of times, there is still beauty, love, and self-sacrifice. This is not a lightweight movie though; I had to fast forward through a couple of scenes. It's definitely NOT a movie for young children, thus the PG-13 rating.

The panoramic scenery, the scripting and acting, a surprising plot device, all are more than exceptional. But tragedy is woven into the fabric of the story and the viewer should be cautioned. Nevertheless, a stellar film.

It was violent with no point. There was no special message that came from the tragic events. The ending did not justify the violence except for the reality of human cruelty. I hated this movie.