Say a Little Prayer

SAY A LITTLE PRAYER is a tough film about child loneliness and misplaced love. Adapted by the director Richard Lowenstein, from a hugely popular novel by Australian woman Robin Klein, he changed the title from CAME BACK TO SHOW YOU I COULD FLY which, had the film retained the title would have helped the first cinema release enormously. The book has such an inbuilt audience, lost with the title change. Klein's latest book to be adapted has retained it's title and was released in 2005: HATING ALISON ASHLEY, and not a big fat hit. Young lead boy actor called Sudi De Winter is simply superb and it is a major loss to films that he is not still on screen somewhere. Hs last effort was in an OK 1998 TV show called RAW FM set in a community radio station managed by teens. Sudi would be about 24 now. Lead actress Fiona Ruttelle was suitably irritating as the young prostitute friend he adopts for the long hot lonely school holidays. But he film belongs to Sudi. Director Lowenstein previously produced the heroin house rock drama DOGS IN SPACE which starred ill fated singer Michael Hutchence. His later comedy HE DIED WITH A FALAFEL IN HIS HAND, an adaptation of a pub comedy play was not the success hoped to see his career revive. SAY A LITTLE PRAYER is a strong teen film for ages 14 and up.

I came to see this film by chance and it reminded me of a book i had read which it turns out the film was based on. The book in one of my favourites but the film left me confused with the careless approach that takes away from the serious topic which it deals with. But considering heaps of Australian books for teenagers that should be made into films and haven't this was a good choice. Maybe one day a film-maker with sense will make a better screen version.

It is clear that Sudi De Winter was the Australian child actor of his generation. His performance in 'Say a Little Prayer' is testimony to this fact. De Winter plays the quiet, introspective but thoughtful Seymour - an 11 year old boy mystified and fascinated by the world around him. De Winter's acting demonstrates a maturity beyond his years and it is of no surprise that his acting career as a child was so successful. I have read that De Winter succeeded in every audition he attended until the age of 16. This is no mean feat, considering he starred in several commercials, TV series such as 'All the Rivers Run II', 'Raw FM', 'Ocean Girl' and 'Neighbours' and movies such as 'Street Angels' and, of course, 'Say a Little Prayer'. Unfortunately, De Winter seems to have lost interest in acting. Some reports have suggested he sees the profession as little more than a way to make money - he is not the devoted thespian many may have thought. It seems that the oyster the acting world was to De Winter has been cheerfully abandoned for other pursuits.

It was interesting to see the city of Melbourne on television. I don't know whether it's just film quality but every time I see this city on film it looks very isolated and dead.

The visual effects in Say a Little Prayer certainly aren't impressive, and no explanation is given about Seymour's "hallucinations." Viewers will just have to assume that he has a great imagination.

Say a Little Prayer is quite an average film. The characters are interesting, although Angie can be a little annoying (especially at the beginning). When we learn more about Angie, Seymour starts to change into a mean kid (he shouts in the hospital). And then near the end he's shy and pleasant again. It's okay for characters' personalities to change and evolve but it should be gradual. Perhaps characterization was fine in the novel but during the translation from novel to film important points were cut out.

A slightly better Australian film is Lantana.

6/10