Romulus, Meu Pai

I managed to catch this movie at the Singapore International Film Festival.It was only one of the few movies that I was interested in catching because the story intrigued me.Not to mention that it had a great cast too. So Romulus My Father is story centered around young Raimond and his relationships with his dad Romulus and his mother Christina.Both Romulus and Christina are migrants settling in Australia and we see the emotional toll that happens between the three of them and also with Hora and Mitru both playing a big part in the lives of those three.

From the moment Romulous stars you have this strong feeling that your in for a great movie.And trust me,during those hundred and four minutes you will see a great story of courage,love and betrayal.It is a very emotional story and brilliantly made.You just know that everyone involved in this movie put their heart and soul into it and their efforts have certainly paid off.Romulous My Father is a story that everyone can identify with.The characters in this movie and their actions leave you thinking even long after the movie has ended.

Performances naturally are one of the highpoints for this film.Nothing new for Bana and Potente here.Both of them are great which is nothing surprising here since both are very talented actors.Suppoting cast is great too,Martion Csokas and Russel Dykstra are moth magnificent.But the real show-stealer here is the young but talented Kodi Smit McPhee who plays the young Raimond.His role is not an easy role to portray yet he does it with such confidence. You feel for him,for everything he has to go through with his parents and every scene he's in is just brilliant.Move over Dakota Fanning,this kid is here to stay! Romulus my father is one solid drama, with a captivating story that everyone can relate to. Not to mention is vibrant cinematography and top-notch acting. Its one of the films where it deserves a bigger release and seen by a wider audience. One can only hope that happens.

This is what I would call a "slice of life" movie that works, and it works pretty well. It's based on the memoirs of Raimond Gaita, who's now a philosopher and writer, and details what seem to be just a couple of summers in his childhood. And it's a troubled childhood - one that undoubtedly gave him fodder for becoming a philosopher, because one would have to spend a lot of time figuring out what life's about after being raised in that environment.

The title character is Raimond's dad, obviously, Romulus. That part was played by Eric Bana. Bana was quite good and quite convincing in the role. The Gaita family came to Australia from Germany in 1950. Romulus was Romanian, married to a German woman, Christina, played by Frankie Potenta. Christina was obviously emotionally ill, flitting in and out of the family's life, obviously interested in Raimond (who's quite devoted to his mother) but totally incapable of being a mother to him. Romulus is hard-working and devoted, but heavily burdened by raising Raimond essentially alone, with help from a wide and diverse array of family and friends. Eventually he has a breakdown himself and lands in a mental hospital.

As good as Bana (and, for that matter, Potenta) was, it's really Kodi Smit-McPhee as Raymond who stole the show. Large parts of this movie are pretty slow (with sudden outbursts caused by the various trials the family is undergoing) but you develop an interest in Raimond's story, and there comes a point when you feel real pain for him; real sympathy; wondering how in the world he's going to ever be able to overcome this kind of upbringing. Smit-McPhee draws us very powerfully into Raimond's life. It was a fine piece of work by a very young actor.

Not knowing anything about the background of the movie, it was made more powerful when I realized that Raymond was a real person, and that the movie was based on his memoirs. That he could obviously become successful after such a troubled upbringing is a great credit to him. (7/10)

I saw this movie the night before last - it goes to World Wide Release in 6 days time. The movie is an absolute must see - I don't think I can put it better than Helen Garner when she said "I can't think of a single Australian movie with such a dense and complex emotional texture. I know I will never forget it."

The story is uplifting in spite of tragedy of truly Shakespearean proportions. One of the most inspiring things is that Raimond not only survived but grew up to be as he is - the story is about the unbreakable bond between Father and Son, I was often in tears. Romulus was a "Very Good Man" (almost a Saint). We also get a keen understanding of the love of man for his fellow man, from the relationship between Hora and Romulus and especially between Romulus and Mitru.

The time and place is evoked beautifully as well as the colossal struggle that postwar migrants went through in Australia. Most readers will either not know or not remember that these were hard times indeed, in 1961 the Federal Government instituted a credit squeeze which almost destroyed the Australian Economy. The country people suffered much, as did the city people also.

The actors are brilliant - Eric Bana, Marton Csokas, Franka Potenta (you can't take your eyes off her whenever she is on screen - the woman is startlingly beautiful) and Russell Dykstra - all are perfect for the roles. The standout performance however is from the new child actor Kodi Smit-McPhee - he is a discovery on the order of another Haley Joel Osment, Keisha Castle-Hughes or Christian Bale. The boy is in almost every scene and he carries the production almost entirely on his little shoulders.

After the film, I recommend the book - it is beautifully written and easy to read and will explain what happened to all the characters as well as a lot of the subtext (the film coves a period of about four years in Raimond's life - from age 9 to about 13). The final point is that you have to pay attention to the film carefully - subtlety is the word here and dialogue is spare - you really need to look at the people to understand what is going on.

A broken family have a growing boy at his early teenage years and have no sense of responsibility to grow a child. Considering that both mother and the father is uneducated and clueless, they live in a farm before the World War II; we still have no idea upon why they ruin a child's life making a havoc of his psychology.

Proved by adversity the family have nothing to distinguish their boy, nor to give anything to make him happy, nor to teach him anything precisely good. Father gets to figure out that the kid needs a college education, and sends him to a college. Then after the suicide of the mother, the boy gets closer to his father. A happy ending occurs and mops up all the pain and unpleasant situations out of the movie, and hopefully out of the boy's memory. Thus, his father taught him one thing, a very important one, how to be patient of adversity.

For a tough story to put on silver screen, the actors' performances are somewhat exhilarating; and that's the mainspring to tolerate this movie. Within low-budget movies with no technical endeavors, if you like to witness a modest triumph of a child, much better than My Father Romulus, I advise you to watch "I am David".

I just saw this and though a lot of people complained of this movie being slow I adored it. One of our best Australian movies to date. It has a moving story, terrific and very realistic actors but the only problem was the pace. Everything was brilliant but it just avoided perfect with its pace which is a bit of a let down for a movie that everyone knows could have been and kind of is everything. Eric Bana is brilliant and the wife Franka Potente was so good I really understood her character. The movie was a bit predictable at times but it had a sweet ending, interesting character and superb character development. A must see for people probably over thirteen. (Some of the themes are very strong.)