The Kid with the Bike

I’ve always said my blog is eclectic, Well, today it will touch on a brand-new subject for me: a movie recommendation. I think I’ve been influenced by Ann Best’s blog. Ann is doing the A to Z Golden Movies Challenge this month. Please check it out.

We saw “The Kid with the Bike” over the weekend, and the sadness of the film still reverberates with me. It is the most stunning piece about rejection and abandonment that I’ve ever seen. Yet, I feel it has a hopeful ending.

I don’t want to give it all away. I’ll just say it’s about a kid, played brilliantly by the young actor Thomas Doret, who is blatantly rejected by his father. The town hairdresser, played by the beautiful Cecile De France, takes him in as her foster child.

But before he can really accept her kindness he must act out his hurt, frustration, and disbelief about how his father has treated him. That part was very hard to watch because Thomas made it seem so real.

The film, released in Belgium May 2011 in French, was written and directed by Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne. According to IMDb, they used their well-known technique of filming with available light and handheld cameras. Well, to my mind, this produced a brilliant affect.

So I recommend you go see it despite the subtitles. Others obviously liked it as well. “The Kid with the Bike” won the Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.