This movie could have taken a number of different directions. Fortunately, it took the right one, and the end result was a very touching movie that challenges the viewer to reflect upon the importance of family and what family represents. Frankie is a 9 year old deaf boy being raised by a single mother, who is basically on the run from Frankie's abusive father. Since she doesn't want to tell Frankie the truth about his father, she concocts a story about his dad being part of a ship's crew and writes letters to him posing as his father. You know from the start that the deception is going to come back to haunt her, and it does so when a ship of the same name as the one she made up docks in town and Frankie assumes his dad will be on it. Still unable to tell him the truth, she hires a man to pose as Frankie's dad while the ship is in the harbour.
As I said, the movie could have gone in a lot of directions. It could have turned into a sappy romance between Frankie's mom and his pretend dad, but it didn't. Although they clearly developed feelings for each other, it was left as an open question whether anything more actually developed between them. It could have turned into a happy ending reconciliation movie, when Frankie's real dad pops up partway through the movie, dying and wanting to see his son, but it didn't. It could have turned into a moral statement about the evils of Frankie's mom's deception, but it didn't. It was a story about very real people living in a very difficult situation and trying their best to do the right thing, even if sometimes it arguably wasn't the right thing. It was an interesting movie from beginning to end, well written and well acted with characters that you can empathize with from the start. I have to say that the British accents are very strong and there are times when it's difficult for a North American to follow the dialogue. I saw this on TV; I understand the DVD version actually has subtitles. In this case they would have sometimes come in handy. That aside, however, this is a very impressive story indeed. 7/10
As I said, the movie could have gone in a lot of directions. It could have turned into a sappy romance between Frankie's mom and his pretend dad, but it didn't. Although they clearly developed feelings for each other, it was left as an open question whether anything more actually developed between them. It could have turned into a happy ending reconciliation movie, when Frankie's real dad pops up partway through the movie, dying and wanting to see his son, but it didn't. It could have turned into a moral statement about the evils of Frankie's mom's deception, but it didn't. It was a story about very real people living in a very difficult situation and trying their best to do the right thing, even if sometimes it arguably wasn't the right thing. It was an interesting movie from beginning to end, well written and well acted with characters that you can empathize with from the start. I have to say that the British accents are very strong and there are times when it's difficult for a North American to follow the dialogue. I saw this on TV; I understand the DVD version actually has subtitles. In this case they would have sometimes come in handy. That aside, however, this is a very impressive story indeed. 7/10