Boy A

A lot of emotional moments today.

For quite some time now, I have not stayed in the cinema after the film is over, sobbing, listening to the music to let my emotions settle down, going through the whole credit list, waiting for the light to turn on, before I step out of the room.

It has been a long time that since a film has grabbed me from the very beginning to the very end, that I care for the characters so much that I reacted to every moment of the film in my spectator seat.

I was so touched.

This film has one of the best opening scenes that I can remember. It really brings you into the film, into how fragile and kind this character is, even though everyone else has and will think of him as a monster.

But how can you not love him from the first sight?
How can it not hurt you when you see him struggling with every step he takes after being sent back to society?

I was constantly aware of the fact that everything will just go wrong at any point. And it hurts me to be feeling like that. I care too much for the character.


This film addresses a lot of difficult issues, mainly on who deserves a second chance. A second chance is presented to Jack, when he got to pick a new name for his new life. A second chance is presented to Terry, when his son came back to his life.

Jack is incredibly sweet, innocent and fragile. He cannot believe in this new chance he got and all the love he all of a sudden receive. He tried his best, even though when he was underaged, he killed a young girl with another boy, Phillip, the almost unspeakable name. Andrew Garfield delivered an amazing performance playing Jack. My heart ached when I saw him reacted to happiness and love with bitterness and disbelief. He is like an angel who really really deserves another chance.

But Terry's son got jealous of the attention Jack got from Terry. He sent out information on the case to everyone so that Jack was forced to go on the run, forced to wake up from this beautiful dream. Jack took a train to Brighton, the end of the world, and the film ended with his phone messages to Terry and Chris, a colleague and mate from work. Jack was on the way to kill himself. The last words he said to Chris was 'Remember the girl I saved. Remember her', as if to say 'remember me as the man who saved her', not as a monster.

This is incredibly sad and hard to watch. It seems like a tragedy from the start and somehow Jack is trapped in the past no matter how much Terry told him that Jack is now someone else. And they had the most sincere father-and-son relationship. Terry used to call him 'son' when they talked. Terry helped him in how to live.

Ah....there are just so many things about this film that moved me. The topic of life, forgiveness, love, redemption, faith and destruction............

It is just a great film. Everyone who cares about the above topics should go and see it.