The overwhelming genuineness makes this fim a masterpiece. Every detail is 100% genuine in the almost intimate rendering of primitive life among primitive people in the wilderness of Nova Scotia, where almost no one even can read - the only established standard and education allowed is a fiercely puritan one. If any book is allowed at all, it's the Bible - or, as the only other book mentioned, "The Pilgrim's Progress".
Theodore Bikel as usual makes a great impression, here as the one outsider, a Dutch doctor who is loathed for his origin, since there has been one casualty from the island in the Boer war - this is 1904, but all the other actors are perfect as well, especially of course the children.
Most impressing though is the tale that is told. It's really the story of a dog, no dog is allowed in the film, the only one appearing doesn't turn up until after half the film, and still it's all about a dog. The sinister grandpa won't have a dog, since dogs can't be eaten, and he only keeps animals for eating them. The two small boys eventually find something to cuddle with like a dog, keeping it away form the grown-ups to avoid their eating it up...
It's a very heart-warming film, and the ladies have their important say as well, finally actually even overcoming the latent local civil war over the ownership of a tiny hill...
The music is perhaps a little over-dramatising the events but very efficient as such. It's a unique film for its sustained absolute realism all the way, and the only film I can think of to come near it in character was "Johnny Belinda" also from Nova Scotia, but this film was all made in England.
Theodore Bikel as usual makes a great impression, here as the one outsider, a Dutch doctor who is loathed for his origin, since there has been one casualty from the island in the Boer war - this is 1904, but all the other actors are perfect as well, especially of course the children.
Most impressing though is the tale that is told. It's really the story of a dog, no dog is allowed in the film, the only one appearing doesn't turn up until after half the film, and still it's all about a dog. The sinister grandpa won't have a dog, since dogs can't be eaten, and he only keeps animals for eating them. The two small boys eventually find something to cuddle with like a dog, keeping it away form the grown-ups to avoid their eating it up...
It's a very heart-warming film, and the ladies have their important say as well, finally actually even overcoming the latent local civil war over the ownership of a tiny hill...
The music is perhaps a little over-dramatising the events but very efficient as such. It's a unique film for its sustained absolute realism all the way, and the only film I can think of to come near it in character was "Johnny Belinda" also from Nova Scotia, but this film was all made in England.