Saw this at the Rotterdam film festival 2019, where it was part of the Big Screen Competition (another film got the price, alas). It was a mixture of real world dilemma's and believable people. A compelling drama, very well acted/casted, and all intermediate steps were very good to follow. Moreover, not everything was predictable, keeping us interested all the way. There were no good or bad people. All meant well for their children, if not the best. That is the reason that the adoptive mother (as she stated) ran out of arguments when trying to talk individually with the loudest protestors. Similarly, the last couple she spoke with, where man and wife disagreed, both had proper arguments to support their respective opinions. Despite some opinions were blown out of proportion, it was clear where they came from, making it difficult for us to prove them right of wrong.
To top the uneasy choices to be made: Even the adoptive couple disagreed. One parent found it more important to remain in peace with the village, given that it was very relevant for his work. On the other hand, the mother wanted to sue everyone who decided to shift the problem away to a different school in an adjacent village. I concur with the feelings of the mother, despite I understand the motives of the father very well (grown up in a small village myself, so I see the merits of his opinion).
All in all, I could do nothing else than scoring a maximum 5 for the audience award. Others seem to disagree, as this movie eventually got a mediocre 50th place (out of 162) with score 4.409 (out of 5). I assume that the odd mixture of issues raised by the story, are not all that easy to digest. Both the opinions of the adoptive parents as well as the parents of the other pupils are understandable from their viewpoint, and I cannot be sure what my stance would be when in the position of the parents involved. I consider it a complement for the film makers that they were able to stir up those dilemmas within the viewers, thus arriving at a mixed score. It is not easy for everyone in the audience to judge the quality of the movie and keep it strictly separate from the actions and opinions of the main protagonists.
