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I watched this one is school, or else I likely never would have heard of it. It is certainly worth watching. Andrew Garfield gives a wonderful performance as Jack, a young man recently out of prison, who is trying to reintegrate into society. It turns out that Jack is no "ordinary" prisoner, however. He is one of two boys (called "Boy A" by the press) who were convicted of brutally murdering a young girl. However much of a monster Jack (born Eric Wilson) might have been as a child, the movie does a rather good job of portraying adult Jack as a sensitive, hard-working adult who really seems to be worthy of a second chance (he even helps rescue a little girl from the scene of a car accident.) However, given Jack's circumstances, it certainly seems unlikely that he will be given that second chance.
I will give the movie and also Andrew Garfield a lot of props for making me actually want to root for Jack (who is blessedly neither too angst-ridden, nor too perfect.) I also have to give...the actor who did the German voice-over for Jack a lot of credit, too. I have not yet seen this movie in English (except for the trailer, which I actually wasn't a fan of. It veers between telling too much and too little of the story.), so technically, he and Andrew Garfield were a good "team" and both brought the character to life. I am almost always ambivalent to German voice-over actors, but this man impressed me. I have no reason to expect that the original actors weren't also talented, as their body language/facial expressions, etc certainly seemed to suggest. I hope to see it in English one day. Although the story is not a happy one, I would say the movie is worth seeing-even for a second time.
For my first time viewing, I will give it 9/10 stars. This is possibly a bit too enthusiastic, but it did leave an impression on me.
