I really enjoyed this film, many reviews consider it 'paedophilic' however I can honestly say this thought never entered my head. The children may be half-naked and Bianca may do a brief nude scene, this scene is only for the benefit of Hadzihalilovic's portrayal of the young becoming sexually mature, which is a natural cycle. Bianca has hit the age where she is becoming curious, she is trapped away in an all girls boarding school having had little experience with the opposite sex. Thus the scene where masturbation is implied, Hadzihalilovic is showing the unnatural way of this boarding school (although it is, ironically, surrounded by nature) and how these girls have been too sheltered. When the eldest students dance on the stage, clearly the dance is showing the blossoming into womanhood, but also they need to raise money for food and living expenses alike! How else would they live?! During the dance Bianca is noticed by the opposite sex, awakening her curiosity (the young innocence goes with age). Anyway blah blah, I just think if people looked a bit deeper into the layers of connotations that have been crafted in they wouldn't find the the film quite the same. It is, after all, a work of art.
