L'enfance volée

Not an easy watch. Great execution. Didn't quite understand why the main character did not just leave earlier.

There is no doubt that the story of a foster boy with no rights of his own could have been turned into a heart wrenching drama. However, despite the gravity of the subject manner, director Markus Imboden successfully infused some elements of entertainment which help viewers deal with the helpless situation of Max.

Many potentially controversial subjects were touched only at the surface, such as the role of the church or the involvement of the Swiss government in the foster system.

Thanks to the beautiful tunes of the accordion, a sort of acoustic happy end was made possible.

I know a bit of German but at one point I was wondering what language it was until I discovered it was Swiss German that is a little bit different. Probably the first movie I saw in this language and it's certainly not a bad one. It's a drama, not my favorite genre, but a interesting to watch drama, with good actors and a good, sometimes hard to watch story. Hard to watch, not as in bloody, but as in mental abuse and corporal punishment towards kids. Seeing those scenes make you realize kids from now are just so spoiled compared to certain kids in that time. Because even if it is a movie, life was that hard in most of the families in that time. The acting is excellent, with actors I never heared of. The filming and the story were much better than I expected it to be. A good drama in a foreign language.