Probezeit (1994)

Probezeit: Directed by Chris Menges. With William Hurt, Nathan Yapp, Keith Allen, Chris Cleary Miles. Graham, a lonely Welsh postal worker, adopts James, a troubled ten-year-old boy. Graham always wanted a son, but James loves his biological father too much to give Graham a chance. Will the two be able to accept each other as family?

“This is an exquisitely poignant tale of a love-starved, troubled orphan boy and an emotionally incomplete man who has decided to reach out for what he wants most in life: a son. Jamie very much wants to love the kind man who wants to adopt him but is prevented from doing so by the promise he made to his biological father just before dad went to jail: to love him u0026quot;best in the whole world forever.u0026quot; In what may just be the greatest dramatic performance by a child ever captured on film (surpassing even that of Freddie Bartholomew in u0026quot;Captains Courageousu0026quot; who had held that title for that past 60 years), Chris Cleary Miles demonstrates a precocity which makes one wonder if he hasnu0026#39;t already overcome some great tribulation(s?) in his short life in order to give such a compelling performance. Alternately masochistic, loving, violent and affectionate, the range and depth of emotion he portrays are nonpareil. I am still having trouble believing it was only a movie! It is unfortunate that Miles never acted in another movie; on the other hand, when you start at the top you can only go down.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOthers have called this William Hurtu0026#39;s greatest role and I would have to agree. While his transformation from the stiff, detached loner to loving father was beautifully written in the book by David Cook, Hurt interprets this flawlessly. In fact you might say the filmu0026#39;s brilliance was relatively easy on the heels of Cooku0026#39;s depictions. Nevertheless every scene in the movie is significant and the editing with the multiple flashbacks was excellent. Why this film did not win all kinds of awards is beyond me.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Second Bestu0026quot; is second best to none in its genre.”