Buena Vista Home Video Edges of The Lord

Loved The Movie! :-)

Edges of the Lord received very little publicity when it was released, and the American release went straight to DVD. Yet this is a film that demands watching and more than once. Haley Joel Osment gives possibly his best performance ever, and that says a lot considering his outstanding efforts in The Sixth Sense, Pay It Forward, A.I., and Second Hand Lions. He portrays a young Jewish boy in Poland during the Nazi occupation, who is sent to live with a Catholic family in rural Poland, where he must pose as a Catholic in order to survive. The only person, besides the family he is living with, who knows his true identity, is the village priest played by William Dafoe who gives an understated yet excellent performance. The drama is intense throughout, but it builds to an even more intense climax. All of the children in the movie give remarkable performances which further serve to show the true nature of what it was like to live under Nazi occupation whether a Jew or a Christian. This is a movie not to be missed, and it is a movie that should be watched together by families with children above age 12

I have a BA in Holocaust Studies and am about to finish an MA in Holocaust and Genocide Studies, that said I have taken multiple classes on Holocaust movies, plays, dramas, comparing the books and plays to the movies, etc. This I can say with total confidence is one of the weirdest and most pointless movies I have ever seen. The bizarre interweaving of religious imagery with the "Christ Figure," often in movies Christianizing the Holocaust, is beaten to death, or really crucified to death too many times. It really draws no real conclusions and the characters seem to just be bouncing off each other.

This is the type of movie we only see from Europe. Very few American movies deal with the issues of childhood in a realistic manner and fewer still, deal with the issue of children growing up during a war without a Hollywood type exploitation. This film deserved greater distribution. Although not as lyrical as the excellent Island on Bird Street, this is a story that asks the viewer to decide just what sort of sacrifices he or she would have been willing to make in similar situations. As most of us are not involved in war, we must ask ourselves what are we willing to sacrifice on a daily basis for the good of society. If Haley and Wilhem had not been involved, this film would have had no American distribution at all. That is a shame. You must watch this film to fully understand and appreciate the significance of the title.

I always recommend this film as a top notch product that flew under the radar. The ensemble cast of children delivers profound performances from a child's perspective of WWII in Europe, and the painful losses it generated. The adult actors carry their weight, but the bulk of the script rests on the shoulders of a handful of child actors. The "journey" focuses on the plight of a Jewish boy (Osment), but the character development arcs portrayed by the two Polish brothers, (sons of the man who shelters Romek/Osment) is a wonder to behold. Faith through the eyes of children can be child-like. There is One who encouraged it to be so.

Was not the greatest title

One cannot say you actually enjoy this film, though I do appreciate and enjoy the depiction of humanity vs inhumanity (on a mass scale). I believe all the actors did a great job especially Tolo; his child-like sacrifice will not soon be forgotten. Nor will the protagonist's partaking of the 'edges of the Lord.' Very well put together, believable, heartrending and life affirming but my predominant emotion was sorrow. And yet, people say 'we should just get over it, get past it for heaven's sake' re the Holocaust. I am not even Jewish but it is unbelievable to me that anyone could feel that way. I cannot say you would actually enjoy this film but I believe it will stay with you the way it has with me.

Haley Joel Osment is presumably the star of this movie, following "Sixth Sense", but it is the other actors who steal the film. Willem Dafoe is a priest trying to keep order in his Polish village with the Nazis descending on them. Osment is a Jewish boy hiding out with a Catholic Polish family and the other children in the family do their best to hide this fact. The ending is moving and unexpected. I enjoyed this movie, buying it though I had never heard of it, but was very happy I did!

This film's story could be compared to the classic resistance story 'Le Silence De La Mere' by Paul Vercors. It depicts actions taken by Polish people in their ordinary lives to counter the predations of the occupying Nazis. Actions which could have cost them their lives. It is not, however, a flagwaving tub thumper that rewrites history to make the Poles out to all be innocent angels. There were collaborators and Nazi sympathisers in every one of the allied nations, and this film shows that Poland was no different. Contrary to remarks by other reviewers, not all of the actors were employing fake accents, and not all of the fake accents were inaccurate (I speak as someone who knows people from that region of Poland). The reason for the use of actors from different nations would be that the production was made with money from more than one country, and also because a film with actors from different nations would have wider appeal. The accent issue does not detract from one's ability to watch the film, although I would argue that this is not a film that is there to entertain. It is there to give people pause for thought, and is therefore especially useful in these dark times when the far-right is on the rise across the UK, Europe, and much of the rest of the world. People interested in this film might also be interested in  Where Eskimos Live [2002] [DVD ] Where Eskimos Live [2002] [DVD

Again a great film but you do need a multie regain player

outside that it was recorded in pal, it was fine.

not a great movie but its good entertainment

It might be a good film, I don't know.I was not able to watch the whole movie as the characters spoke the most annoying fake Polish accent.If they wanted the film to be authentic they should have spoken in Polish and made English subtitles.