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Edges of the Lord (2001, with HJO)

Posted by Errant on 2024-June-17 02:04:33, Monday

I have to admit that this peak-Haley Joel Osment film passed me by without my notice, but Edges of the Lord is a World War II coming-of-age movie in which Osment plays Romek, a Jewish city boy from Krakow who is smuggled out to the countryside during the Nazi occupation of Poland. The local village priest (Willem Defoe) arranges for him to stay with a Catholic family under the pretense that he's a cousin whose family have been put out by wartime air bombardments, but the neighbors are immediately suspicious as peasants tend to be of all outsiders.

The meaning of the title is a reference to the Catholic communion wafer and its full significance within the story isn't revealed until the ending. It's not exactly in the same league as Pay It Forward or A.I. It's got plenty of nice-looking boys, but it's also an intense film with some rather brutal depictions of bullying at the hands of the other kids, escalating to a point you don't often see in coming-of-age films. The sense of danger of being discovered is especially well-done. But it has its tender moments as well, one scene in particular standing out. The kids of the village are selected by the priest to study their catechism for their first communion and the schoolmates begin spending time together regularly and Maria, the sole girl of the group, decides that they should reenact the Mary Magdalene episode from the Bible in which Mary is caught whoring. Maria takes Romek into a barn for some hanky-panky while the other boys wait outside. Of course, being circumcised presents a problem for Romek's secret identity, but though they never get to consummate an "I'll show you mine" scene, instead they have a scene with bare legs and feet in a tub of grain that's actually incredibly sensuous.

Chief downside is the accents. Most of the cast is actually Polish except for Osment, Defoe, and the two brothers of Romek's adoptive family. It's the non-Polish actors who sound awkward doing accents and the younger brother (Liam Hess as Tolo) is especially hard to understand at times. The younger brother also happens to acquire a Jesus complex which is resolved in a really messed up way. But hey, it was the forties.

I rate it three out of four uncut boy-penises. Maybe not quite three, but you can't go halfway in these matters. Sometimes you need to go full penis.

Errant
  • (https site) Edges of the Lord (spoilerish fan video in lieu of any decent trailer links)
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