The Boy in the Woods movie review

MOVIE TITLE: The Boy in the Woods

RATING: PG-13

LENGTH: 1 hour 41 minutes

Movie Review Mom GRADE: B

IN A NUTSHELL:

This Holocaust movie is based on a true story about a Jewish boy named Max in Poland during World War 2, trying to evade the Nazis who have decimated his small town in 1943. Maxwell Smart’s memoir is called “The Boy in the Woods: A True Story of Survival During the Second World War”, published in 2022.

The film was directed and written by Rebecca Snow in her directorial debut. She met Maxwell Smart while making the documentary Cheating Hitler.

Already, it has been nominated for and won awards at the Whistler Film Festival.

THINGS I LIKED:

I love Richard Armitage in everything he does.
Jett Klyne holds the film together as the young boy. He has a bright future in Hollywood if he wants one. The other young actor was David Kohlsmith.
Everyone else in the cast did a fine job and painted a picture of very believable characters.
The film does a good job showing the innocence of the children and how they simply cannot understand what is happening to their town or world.
As a mom of 4 sons, it’s heartbreaking to watch these two boys trying to survive in a forest without their families and worrying about what probably did happen to their families. At the end of the movie, we learn a little bit more about them. (no spoilers)
The land that is depicted in the story is now in modern-day Ukraine.
We get to see photos of some of the real people involved in the true events depicted in the movie. Even more special, we get to see a video clip of Max’s visit to Israel to search for a baby he saved in the forest. We learn that over 1.5 million Jewish children died or were killed during the Holocaust.
Thankfully, most of the violence is off screen. We don’t have to see all of the horrors to understand the brutal that’s happening outside the forest.
Fun fact: The movie is supposed to take place in Eastern Europe, but was actually filmed in North Bay, Ontario. A lot of Jews fled to Canada during and after WWII, so many of their stories have been told by Canadians.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

While the story is true and inspiring, it’s getting lost in a sea of other films that are similar.
The film looks fairly low-budget.
After spending almost a year living in the woods, the boys seem well fed and clean.
I hate shaky cam.

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

Kids might be bored. Older kids who know about the Holocaust might be interested, especially because the film features two young boys.
We see Nazis getting violent with people.
We also see bounty hunters looking for Jews.
People die.
We see some blood.
Firearms and knives are used.
Talk of killing rabbits. (While the reference is about killing actual rabbits for food, it’s also a symbol of the innocence of the children killed in WWII.)

THEMES:

FUNNY LINES:

INTERESTING LINES:

“Why did you make me Jewish?” – Max (Jett Klyne)
“I’m thinking about becoming Christian because the Christian God protects His people.” – Max (Jett Klyne)
“The only thing that’s real in this world is hunger and pain and ghosts and Jew hunters.” – Max (Jett Klyne)
“I used to think that God abandoned me, but now I think maybe He sent me you.” – Max (Jett Klyne)