Published: 16 February, 2012
by DAN CARRIER

Directed by Stephen Daldry
Certificate 15

Rating: 4 Out Of 5 Stars

Oskar Schell has found a key in an envelope at the bottom of a vase.

The vase is hidden in his father’s cupboard – and he believes it is a clue his deceased parent has left for him, a riddle for him to solve.

While the puzzle is a thread of this excellent adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel of the same name, it is merely a device to look at wider themes, namely coming to terms with the sudden death of a loved one.

Oskar is an 11-year-old boy who is coming to terms with the loss of his father, who we learn was lost in the attacks on the World Trade Center.

Oskar and his father Thomas (Tom Hanks) were best buddies: his dad created challenges, trials and puzzles for his highly intelligent yet socially insecure child. To help bring him out of his shell, his father set him challenges much like a treasure hunt, ostensibly to find New York’s missing “Sixth Borough” but really to get his child to speak to people and gain some confidence.  

Oskar is afraid of   loud noises, of ringing telephones, crossing bridges, riding in lifts, and, more understandably, tall buildings and riding on public transport, which he thinks are sitting ducks for any terrorist.

We are told of their special relationship through flashbacks, and then this is brought home again by the clever and incredibly moving trick using a recording made by his father as he realises he is trapped in the World Trade Center and may not make it back.

The grief of the children who lost parents that day is hard to fully comprehend. But instead of focusing solely on the effect the atrocity had on those directly affected, this film offers a chance to consider the concept of grief.

We have a character called simply The Renter, who lives with Oskar’s grandmother and has lost his voice after watching his parents die in a bombing raid during the Second World War.

Then there is another man who has lost his father – who underlines the film’s central point that we all have to face bereavement.

There are some problems with the narrative arc. Foer’s novel has some big themes running through it – and it feels a bit squashed in the film format.

The sequence of events is also slightly confusing at times – there are four or five really strong plots here, and it feels he may have done better to have chosen one.

So much hinges on the ability of the leading  man – or boy.

Thomas Horn in the role of Oskar is extraordinary.

He has been well kitted out – his outfits paint a picture of a cerebral misfit, a boy whose own strange interior world is made clear by his exterior look.

He is asked to play out some incredibly hard scenes.

How do you persuade a pre-teen boy, who has never acted before, to consider what emotions a bereaved child would be feeling?

He does so, and is exemplary.

This is never comfortable viewing, and benefits from a string of lead performances, a good story, and a thoughtful consideration of the cycle of life and how hard it is to come deal with loss.