Goodnight Mister Tom (1998)

My Review On Goodnight Mister Tom:

I watched in wonder the marvellous Goodnight Mister Tom on Thursday 21st of February at my school. It is a film about a young boy ( William Beech ) who lives with his mother who takes religion a little too far because she hits her own child. William is sadly evacuated to the countryside to keep away from the bombs and ends up living with Mister Tom who is immensely stressed and reluctant to have him in his home. William then has to go back home due to his mother's severe sickness and ends up finding a baby sister when he gets home. William's mother locks him in a cupboard with Trudy ( what he decided to name his sister.) Mister Tom then finds him and takes him back home to live peacefully with him on the silent countryside.

The reason I gave this fascinating film four stars was purely because I really enjoyed this film and I was hooked completely until the bitter end. Also, it is extremely educational to children ( especially that are around the age 7-11). This majestic yet moving movie has the unique ability to educate young children about the vile, menacing times of the war but yet move them intensely because of the sheer thought of all the real children who had to suffer through these torturous times.

Even though I absolutely enjoyed this film I found it had one very minor disadvantage. This devastating drawback was that it was immensely depressing and very sad and a vast majority of local citizens watch films to cheer themselves up or merely for entertainment, not to feel devastated and depressed by a very sad film. Additionally, younger children may find it very upsetting knowing that the story was actually real and may feel scared by it too.

I would definitely recommend this to older children who are eager to learn all about the wondrous war. I think younger children should wait until they are a little older to watch it though so they can understand it better. Overall, I absolutely enjoyed this film and I hope that you did too!

By Heidi Drinnan, year six.