God Bless the Child

GOD BLESS THE CHILD is a beautiful little film, a slice of life about a group of siblings on their own for a day, left to fend for themselves and get into various adventures after their mother drives off early one morning.

The siblings, played by real siblings I am told and non-actors at that, do a terrific job especially for their age. I believe the filmmakers simply shot them in their element, doing what they do, and used the best takes. The story is beautiful and so is the camerawork. It even won some awards for it. Highly recommend.

I have no clue how they got performance like these from very young, non-professional children. It plays like a documentary. You just won't believe how real this movie is.

I was so afraid for these children. Being the mother of two boys, I can say that the situation seemed dangerous. I was glad that there was at least a camera person, hopefully an adult available. The scene where they rode their scooters down the street was frightening. I don't understand how a 13 year old girl could be expected to care for four very young boys; I consider it child neglect. The sister did the best job she could. I could not help thinking that it was bad enough while they were at home, but much too dangerous when they were out on the street. I understand that this is the dilemma for many families where the parents work, and the oldest child must care for the younger ones, but someone should have at the very least purchased some milk and prepared a meal for the children. I would think that there must have been a father somewhere, but I did not see any sign of him.

I'm halfway through watching this but came to IMDb to see if the children were related. As someone who grew up with a similar age/gender dynamic with my 3 siblings this felt very familiar, casting a real life family was a brilliant move. It brought a depth and authenticity to the relationships in this film, far more nuanced than what would have been achieved with actors this young, had they not been related. The little penis song was too adorable. Very clever idea for a film, not something to watch if you need explosive action to enjoy a film, but if you like intensive intimacy then this is a great choice. The colour tone was really nice too. I had to turn my brightness up but I think it set the tone well.

I saw this film at SXSW it is a charming film, it makes you laugh, it makes you cry. I would give it a 10 because it tells a story of a real social problem in a way that is real and not a Hollywood version of "real life".This movie takes the viewer into a home that has 5 children the oldest is a teenage daughter and 4 younger boys, the mom drives off at the very beginning of the movie, leaving this young teen daughter in charge of these 4 rambunctious boys, there are all kinds of funny boy stuff and some really touching scenes with this teen girl. They are all getting through the day in their own ways. You don't know if the mom is coming back or not, but the daughter is the only one who is really aware that that is a possibility. I would love to see this again, Hopefully someone will pick it up and make it available to the general public.