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Floydboy
ha ha, charade you are
Joined: Fri Sep 26, 2008 6:05 pm
Posts: 2210
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 Re: Boy A Boy A. 10/10. A+.
"Remember that girl Chris, remember that girl."
The immediate after effect that I felt after having watched this movie is one of sheer marvel at the story and issues addressed in this movie. The acting was phenomenal and the story riveting.
Boy A deals with a child who committed a horrible crime and is then released from prison years later to try to start anew. He is given a completely new identity and name and is told to hot mention his past to anyone. He must try to get used to a normal life and figure out how to deal/not deal with his past. The movie itself is set up as two stories interwoven. One is of Jack, trying to live a semi-normal life. The other is of Jack and his best friend Phillip as children. The latter is what sets the basis for everything that happens in the former.
The acting and character development in the film was phenomenal. Although Jack is the centerpiece to the film, the supporting characters around him do a wonderful job at helping him adjust to his new life. There is loads of tension as Jack's story progresses and we wait to see what awaits Jack, be it good or bad. The relationships that he forms are heart-warming and wonderful to see. For someone that has been isolated from the world since his childhood and isolated from love his entire life, it was tremendous to see him grow and flourish on screen. I absolutely loved how the blossoming of his relationship with his girlfriend Michelle was portrayed.
Now, as it has been clearly mentioned in previous postings in this subforum, there are bounds of spoilers that follow. Although I never mention specific instances in the movie, you can get a fairly clear picture of what happens in the story. Bear that in mind while reading ahead.
*** SPOILERS FOLLOW ***
I was sucked into the life of Jack, desperately hoping that he would be able to figure things out and that his life would find happiness and order. And yet one has a foreboding feeling that something has to give, that the tears he sheds when trying to confide to his new best friend or to his increasingly more serious girlfriend will only lead to the unhappiness he seems destined to find. I wanted him to be loved and to have someone tell him that they love him. I wanted him to have friends. I wanted him to have the paternal figure in his life that he so desperately craved. I wanted it to turn out ok, but alas, that is only me wanting something that perhaps is too much to ask for from the real world, and from the world created in this film. As Jack can't believe the good fortune he seems to be having, neither could I grasp the fact that some things can be too good to be true (or at least last).
And when a deadbeat son tells his father that he hopes they crucify Jack, the monster, all I could think was that it wouldn't be necessary. How much I wish the son would simply follow Jack's good example. But no, instead of having someone that is trying to change his life come out better, we are stuck with the status quo of someone going nowhere and someone else stuck to what others deem his life should become.
It makes the viewer ponder the question, how would people react to a murderer leaving prison and trying to assimilate himself in normal society, as is currently happening with the Jonesboro kids. Would we treat them differently because we knew what they had done? Would we accept him or be able to forgive him for something he did as a child? This also brings to mind the issue of whether kids should be tried as adults. The Jonesboro kids were the last ones to be tried as kids, but since then more kids committing criminal acts have been tried as adults. It begs the question, does a 12-yr-old fully comprehend the repercussions of his actions. Yes, a child that age does understand what is bad and what is good. But does he understand the consequences fully as an adult would? Or even, as well as a 16-yr-old would? I personally don't think so. Just from the interaction I have with my nephews, 10 and 11, I doubt they know the complexity or intricacy of such a huge action. Can they even think past 5 minutes into the future? Would their thought process be the even remotely similar to mine or even someone younger, say 14 or 16?
I have friends that teach middle school students (10-12) that agree that they see everyday students making decisions that show they don't have the same comprehension as an adult would. Why is it that we have laws that make it so someone has to be so old to serve in the military, buy alcohol or even smoke cigarettes and yet there are different standards set for other actions children may take?
This also hits home because in Puerto Rico I constantly hear of repeat offenders in drug crimes. From some graduate studies I have seen, the young adults involved in the drug life aren't given many opportunities to thrive in a normal community after leaving prison, the reason being that no one can see them as anything else than what they have done. Many commit stupid crimes while underage. Those that leave the juvenile prisons and try to change their lives are hit with the grim reality that most of society, including employers, think they can't and won't. So they are left with nothing else but to go back to the life they knew or simply leave it. And as this film suggests, by that point it may be too late before someone can do something.
I thoroughly enjoyed the emotional roller coaster that Boy A carried me on. I enjoyed the experience of watching the film unfold. I enjoyed the parallel stories and how they intertwined. I enjoyed the deep contrasts between the heart-warming and the heart-wrenching. I enjoyed the characters, settings, experiences, acting, directing and most importantly the story. And though I may have wished for a last embrace, the ending was satisfactory. Messed up and depressing, but deeply satisfactory.
My one small, yet insignificant, complaint would be that they would have better illustrated the last scene (perhaps by using better CGI) since it was unclear where he was (the book explicitly states it).
This is only one of two movies this year that I could give an A+, 10/10. Marvelously done. I highly recommend this film to anyone; though don't expect to leave the movie happy.
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Floydboy
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