Themes: Innocence Lost, Assumed Identities, Life Under Occupation
Main Cast: Haley Joel Osment, Willem Dafoe
Release Year: 2001
Country: US
Run Time: 95 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
A Jewish boy struggling to survive the Nazi pogrom during World War II finds an unexpected ally in this period drama. As Nazi troops invade Poland, a young boy from Krakow named Romek (Haley Joel Osment) is given to friends by his parents, who smuggle him out of town in hopes of saving him from the advancing armies. Romek is taken to a rural community, where a sympathetic farming family has agreed to put him up, under the pretense that he's a nephew whose parents have fallen ill. Thanks to his blonde hair and blue eyes, Romek is able to blend in with the largely Catholic townsfolk, though a few of the neighbors become quite suspicious when Romek appears not to know elementary prayers and church procedures. The priest (Willem Dafoe) of the neighborhood's church becomes aware of Romek's secret, and is sympathetic to the boy's problems, so in secret, he coaches Romek in basic catechism, while remaining mindful of the lad's Jewish heritage. But while Romek is getting better at fooling others into believing he's Catholic, he can't escape the signs of the devastation that the Nazi onslaught has wrought against his people. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Edges of the Lord is a 2001 film set in Poland during World War II that depicts a Jewish boy (Haley Joel Osment) who is hidden from the occupying Germans by posing as the Catholic nephew of a local farmer (Olaf Lubaszenko), with the aid of a compassionate priest (Willem Dafoe).
The film had a general release in many countries, although it was not released in the United States.[1] A review in Variety predicted that because the film was shot in English, with many of the actors speaking with Polish accents, it would quickly go to video and TV.[2] The DVD release of the film in the US came out in 2005.[1]
