A film about forgiveness, love, self-sacrifice, a strong family and good parenting and the need for a good role model father and mother. At the same time, a film about the evils of war, how it destroys even the good ideals that many go to fight for. Also a film about the place of God in the life of a family. The story is full of comical and fun adventures and experiences that only children playing in places like an abandoned quarry or an old scrap metal dump can experience.

Twelve-year-old Lydia has a brother, Stuart, who along with their friends build a tree fort in the nearby woods. They take the material for the construction, from a nearby scrap yard, where a certain Mr. Lipnicky keeps watch. He is an elderly alcoholic who has no wife, but he has quite a few children left over, whom he unfortunately does not care for.

They are left to fend for themselves and behave accordingly. Lydia, Stuart and their friends are regularly bullied, beaten or at least verbally humiliated. They even have no inhibitions about insulting Stuart’s father. Typical unloved children.

Lydia and Stuart’s father came home from the Vietnam War some time ago. It’s not easy for him to find a job, and even when he does find one, he often loses it when his employer learns that he’s been treated in a psychiatric ward because of his experiences in the war. Despite his problems and shortcomings, this man is an example of a good father and husband with a great sense of justice and compassion.

Eventually Stuart’s father starts working as a potato picker in the fields, but he is not happy with the wages he gets for this work, so he decides to go to work in the mine. There, in one incident while rescuing a colleague, he is seriously injured and dies a few days later. Despite the loss of his father, the family lives his message of love on.

Parents Guide: Pretty brutal beating of a Vietnamese soldier. Saying God’s name in vain. A few perverse innuendos.

Cast: Flavio Insinna, Lina Sastri, Charles Dance, Lewis Crutch, Alessandra Martines

Crew: Lodovico Gasparini

USA, 1994

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