robertvannsmith

Not many movies are made about WW2 that revolve around Russia's point of view, although this movie doesn't really focus much on the war itsself than it does the casualties of war and collateral damage.

Lem is an orphan who is captured by soldiers and put into an orphanage where he and many other orphans are being brainwashed to follow Communism. Being the new kid in the orphanage, he's forced to learn all of the routines that all the other kids already know.

After being there for some time, a new kid arrives by the name of Isak Keyten.

Now all of a sudden Lem doesn't feel so alone and tries his best to befriend the older boy.

The only way he could eventually befriend the boy was to ask the Commander in charge of the orphanage what happened to Isak's girl friend, who had been in the orphanage prior to Isak's arrival.

This movie does a beautiful job of showing how innocence can be lost rather quickly when children are forced to grow up fast in a hostile environment.

I've been a fan of H. G. Wells stories for many yeas and I was looking forward to this particular theatrical remake.

I did enjoy the movie for the main storyline and for the special effects but I thought Steven Spielberg spent too much time focusing on the drama between Tom Cruise's character and his family and not enough time on the actual alien attack.

The drama of Tom Cruise's character's life would have been fine if more time had been spent on the alien invasion. I sort of felt like Steven Spielberg cheated the audience from a good "aliens attack Earth" story to focus more on the family drama.

If he could have kept the length of the family drama but added more to the storyline of the alien attack, I think it would have made it a much better movie.

I never really knew what to expect when I went to see this movie because I hadn't seen any previews or trailers for it.

I was glad to see what a great movie it was afterwards.

Being originally from Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A., I was also glad to see a movie show that racism and bigotry can exist "anywhere" and not just in the southeast, as so many movies and television shows like to stereotypically depict about the southeast.

By the end of the movie, everyone has learned valuable life lessons about how they perceive other people and how a "bigger picture" needs to be adhered to.