Die Schwarzen Brüder

At first sigh, adaptation of one of Charles Dickens 's novel. at the second - the same. a nice film for the reflection of social context. for the hope message. for the good performances. and for the good intentions. because the basic problem of film is to be beautiful but not convincing. a children drama, their virtue, death and courage against the dark world of adults. but each scene something is missing. for feel the story out of its theoretic connotations. short, see it. for the atmosphere Dickens-like.

A predictable kids tale if there is one. But it's not that bad, even though one of the most charismatic German actors has to be as one-sided as I have ever seen him (talking about Moritz Bleibtreu). But it's not his movie or his story as it is more about the young boys who had to endure a lot early on in their lives.

The film is based on a book which is based on real life events from "back in the day". That makes the story interesting, but the weight seems to have been a bit too much to carry (no pun intended). While there are quite a few moments that will shock you or generally get you caught up in the moment, the overall sense is that something is missing. You can't blame the kids too much and the movie kind of decent, if you like those sort of movies

I saw this wonderfully portrayed sort of coming of age story from 19th century Italy, in German. The acting and script writing is very good, with lots of nuanced moments. The sets and cinematography are first rate; smokey, dark and dirty settings add much to the atmosphere. It's a child-friendly story that exposes (without over exposing) child labor of the time. The cruelty of the time is present but the human and child spirit endures. Other reviews haven't been so positive and this might have to do with English translation. Predictable as it may be the story was especially appealing to my 12 yo.