Review of Little Boy (2015) by Maryssa R — 01 Jan 2016

Admittedly, I would have to say that I agree with the critics on this one. I'll also say that as a believing christian, I had hoped that this group of filmmakers would have grown enough in their skills to pull off a faith-based movie with high production value and a great story line.

It's a real bummer for me, because while I was enjoying the movie immensely after the point of an overly long and unfocused exposition, I found myself feeling profound horror when the "payoff" resulted in an atomic bomb (the "Little Boy" bomb that took our Hiroshima) destroying all the other wonderful aspects of the movie.

It didn't matter how sweet and lovely and faith-filled the movie was outside of that. From the scene when Tom Wilkinson's character is introduced to Pepper Busbee... All the way up to thhe bomb was inspiring.

But then THAT happened. Whaaaat??? Even after the bomb dropping, there were potentially redeemable qualities- beautiful vignettes, which came off as nuanced, well acted and well constructed. The tone and feel reminded me of Amelie.

It's obvious they must have temped the score for that written by Yann Tiersen, into the final edits in order to construct the pacing of the scenes. I'm a big fan of magical realism and felt this movie could have easily fallen into this genre and would have come off rather well.

.. IF the filmmakers hadn't intentionally built the story towards and away from the bomb going off in tandem with a child's faith. I'm all about faith and miracles. I've seen a few in my lifetime.

Those of you who are thinking the critics are throwing this movie under the bus simply because it's christian are blinding themselves to what this movie is about. If I wasn't a believer, this would confuse the living daylights out of me.

It would give any ammunition I might have had against religion in general, an absolute field day. Alas, because it FUNDAMENTALLY undercut it's other primary message of faith, hope and redemption with an atomic bomb literally obliterating an entire community in the blink of an eye, by juxtapositioning them directly in opposition to each other, I have to give it an F.

Sorry.