Criminally underrated cinematic gem

I have a bachelor's degree in filmmaking, and I'm a published film critic (mainly in my college years but have since gotten a real job).

Little Boy is one of the most well-crafted films I have seen this year. The cinematography is outstanding. The acting is top notch -- and the young boy in particular is very talented, a natural. The cast is full of some of the best character actors in Hollywood.

The narrative is well-written -- it is multi-layered with complex, dynamic characters. The narrative pulls at the heart strings in ways that are not felt to be manipulative and inauthentic; rather, the powerful emotional pay-off of the film's narrative arc is hard won through good storytelling. The narrative also works very well, at a different level of analysis, as an allegory where the young boy is seen to represent the United States itself.

The editing is also impressive. Parallel editing between scenes, while not exactly a novel device since at least The Godfather, the device is very effectively utilized in ways that convey much more meaning that if the scenes had not been inter-spliced together.

This is almost perfect gem of a film.

There is only one reason why critics have been hard on this film, and that is due to the explicitly Christian, and especially Catholic, themes of the film. There is an obvious prejudice against the film merely due to the fact that it has religious themes. Film critics have been long known to bash films that don't fit their politics or anti-theist agendas. They can stuff it.

So, ignore the critics, and see this film today.