Ferris Vueller Good movie, mostly kind of sad but also kind of happy in a symmetric kind of way. And Frodo has always been a good actor.What annoys me is the way the movie, and Hollywood in general, put the blame of child abuse on men and alcohol. But the cause is rampant divorce and feminist extremists' denial of biology.Biological parents care more for their own children, and feminists expect their new partner to ignore that primal instinct. Children living with one parent and unmarried partner are more than 8 times more likely to be abused.Divorce is about individual freedom, and I get that, but people ignore that it leads to unhappy lives, it often bankrupts the biological father, and the children lose a parent, and in bad cases, children are beaten and even die because of divorce.Hollywood should paint a more realistic picture, but I understand that they are in the business of selling emotions, not education.

dld-12881 SPOILER ALERT! - I was mesmerized by the acting of the two young boys who maintained such innocence and vulnerability throughout the movie. Some scenes were hard to watch, especially when the boys both got stomach aches and ran home to find their wonderful dog dead, or we're led to believe he's dead for a few seconds, but he's actually wounded and bleeding at the hands of the abusive stepfather. After being puzzled by the ending where the younger brother, Bobby, flies away in a home made flying machine, I had to go back and rethink the movie. Conclusion - I think the boys did build a flying machine. A flying machine that in reality was not capable of flying having been built by school age boys in 7 days. I think Bobby died going down the hill in his flying machine right after he said "I'm going down". It was Mikey's imagination that gave the Flyer the ability to soar and take Bobby off to safety. I think inside both boys knew that he was going to die but it was his only escape from the abuse he was suffering, since Mom didn't have what it took to protect her sons. The older brother Mikey had to believe that somehow Bobby made it and was still alive out there somewhere. But in reality a boy Bobby's age,if he had flown away, wouldn't have made it through a week without being discovered by someone who would have alerted authorities. I don't think Bobby was a figment of Mikey's imagination. My conclusion is based on the following: Bobby made the statement a few times in the movie "that it won't be long now" and you got the feeling that somehow he was going to be free from the abuse or that he knew he was going to die. And there was the scene at the gas station when they were filling the flyer up with gas and the gas station attendant was a young guy with a limp who had also tried to "fly" and his injuries which caused the limp had made the newspapers. To me that was an indication that realistically things were not going to go well. The really sad part is that in the end, Mikey is still trying to protect his weak mother when she still can't face what is really happening. Mikey sends her postcards that he wrote to look like they were from Bobby. Postcards that arrived after Bobby's death to assure her that everything was alright. Extremely BRAVE boys played superbly! Horrible mother! Wonderful dog! GREAT story told with sensitivity! Outstanding directing! The ambiguous ending drives home the point that there is no nice, tidy, happy ending in an abusive situation. The damage caused by domestic violence is deep and lasts a lifetime, destroying the ability to truly trust anyone.

l-caron I am surprised that so many viewers didn't find all the symbolism in the movie.....it's what made the movie an incredible work of art! The story deals with some of the saddest content a movie could hold, yet it is one of the best movies I've ever seen because of the need for your own imagination and the brilliance in the storyline.If you will pay close attention, the message is there. The younger brother is killed by the stepfather. The older brother made up the story about the wagon flying as a way to deal with the pain of his brother's death. There are those that would argue why would he lie to his own children with the story. To me the answer is because he doesn't want to share such ugliness with his own children, or that he has blocked it out and replaced his memory of the horrific event with the thought of his brother flying away to safety. I've read some of the reviews that believe he was an only child and that he created the younger brother as an escape to deal with the abuse he suffered. Although this is an interesting idea - I love the imagination used to come up with that. I don't think he would have lied to his own children about having a little brother. But, I do find it plausible that he would have lied about his little brother's death. However, I like that idea of an ending much better than the notion that the movie had no symbolism at all.There are many different takes you can have on the movie, but if you take the movie at face value.....two brothers creating a wagon that flies to escape an abusive stepfather - you've missed the brilliance. The fact that I was able to see the subtle messages in the script were what made the movie so incredible to me. It requires your own thought process and your own imagination to make it work......dig deep when you watch it. You'll be amazed at the genius contained in the film. The only other movie I've seen as close to this in symbolism and subtle messages is Pleasantville.....but that's a comment for another movie!

fertilecelluloid This bittersweet slice of magic realism had a checkered production history (director/writer replaced) and tanked at the box office, but it's a helluva film.Elijah Wood and Joseph Mazzello are pre-teen brothers whose flaky mom (Lorraine Bracco) shacks up with a mean-spirited alcoholic (Adam Baldwin). During his drinking bouts, Baldwin physically abuses Mazzello and manipulates him into remaining silent about his situation. But when Wood cottons on to what's happening, the boys put their heads together and hatch a fantastique solution to Mazzello's devastating dilemma.I love films that mix fantasy and dark reality. They are rarely successful financially ("Lawn Dogs" is a similar example), but they are usually original and intriguing.The drunk Baldwin is shot from a low, child's perspective and his head is deliberately lopped off below the top of frame. This device allows us to judge him purely by his actions and as a totally physicalized beast. Both Wood and Mazzello are excellent, and they pull us effortlessly into their dark, frightening world.The "radio flyer" of the title is a small red wagon kids transport their belongings in. Here it transports a dream.Seriously interesting stuff.