My Brother Tom [DVD]

Not the easiest film to watch. A dark and very charged movie about two youths who create their own life in the Woods. There is child abuse and bullying in this film, which the youths try to escape. Excellent acting by the then young Ben Whishaw.Five stars says I love this film, but that isn't the case. The five stars are for the courage to make this film and the acting of the young players.

I first saw 'My Brother Tom' very late one evening on Channel 4 back in 2002, and was very impressed. It felt ever so fresh and original and it was made at a time when digital video film-making was still in it's infancy, which made gems like this possible to be made.The story of two misfit school-age teens who are both victims of sexual abuse was a dark, unpleasant and utterly believable story that we rarely see so realistically executed in films. The gradual mental decline of the victims is brilliantly portrayed by the young cast, one of which is played by a young pre-fame Ben Wishaw, who I knew there and then would go on to have a great career. Jenna Harrison also gives a powerful performance and I am surprised that she hasn't gone to find more recognition as she is a good actress and also very beautiful.My Brother Tom raises awareness of the damages caused by of child sexual abuse without resorting to the sensationalism that Tim Roth's 'The War Zone' did, which for me was nothing but gratuitous and in poor taste.

arrived very quickly and in good working order

Set in suburban England, this film tackles difficult subjects in a dramatic way, featuring as it does the attempted seduction of a schoolgirl by her teacher, and the sexual abuse of a boy by his father. Both girl and boy find release through exploring their natural instincts in the `good wood`. Considering it was released almost ten years ago, it's relevance is sadly pertinent still, as it shows the hierarchy of the Catholic church as being complicit in the abuse.The production is very professional and the acting very realistic: Ben Whishaw is superbly convincing as the troubled Tom. But the very uncomfortable nature of the film's subject, made all the more real by the writing and acting, means that this is a film that I am not sure I would want to watch again. Hence the three stars.

It covers adolescent intensity very well, but the back story to it all is rather too predictable. The film goes for the impressionistic but too often lapses into the incoherent.It is also much too long for its material.

bought as a present should be well received

A teenage girl and a teenage boy form an unusual friendship, both being victims of some form of abuse. Maybe the director of this film is trying to get some sort of message across, it doesn't work, the film has almost no story line and is very boring. Don't spend good money on this rubbish.

was given as a gift, loved it