"All the Little Animals"

Rated R       1 hour, 51 minutes       Lions Gate Films

Directed by Jeremy Thomas

Starring:

Daniel Benzali

John Hurt

Christian Bale

James Faulkner

Warnings: Violence toward the innocent

[OCT. 12, 2000]  A recent release on video, "All the Little Animals," is a quality story about a mentally handicapped young man who escapes from danger and temporarily finds happiness, only to have danger once again seek to destroy him and take all that belongs to him.

Shot in the UK, this quiet, under-appreciated film caught my eye on the shelf because of the two principal actors, Daniel Benzali and John Hurt. There is one copy of this video at your local video store, and it hasn’t really moved off the shelf, probably because of the namby-pamby name of this film. But the name shouldn’t fool you — this is a good movie.

Christian Bale plays a character named Bobby Platt, who suffers from a brain injury he received as a child while being struck by a car. The movie opens just after the death of his mother, his only human friend. After the funeral, his bad-guy stepfather (Daniel Benzali), whom he calls "The Fat," threatens him with banishment to an insane asylum if he doesn’t sign papers transferring the family fortune over to him. Bobby refuses, and for his refusal "The Fat" executes his pet mouse and repeats his asylum threat. Bobby responds by running away.

He hitchhikes across country and meets up with eccentric Mr. Summers (John Hurt), a hermit who befriends animals, buries roadkill and curses people. Summers invites him to stay, and together they build a new life. Unfortunately, Bobby’s past-life problems still survive, and Summers helps him plan to remedy his previous dilemma.

 

 

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There is much to like in this film. The plot is very different, very diverse and quite unpredictable. . There is a great deal of adventure through the beautiful countryside of the UK, and the filming captures that beauty perfectly. The acting is superb. Bald-headed Benzali makes an incredibly bad bad guy who had me utterly hating him. John Hurt always delivers, and Christian Bale was convincing in his role as the misfit Bobby. Jeremy Thomas directed this movie in such a fashion that you find yourself experiencing the scenes along with the characters.

Although the budget wasn’t high on this film (it couldn’t have been too low — they wrecked a Bentley making the final scenes), the production quality is intact, and this is not your usual imported B-quality film.

One of the employees of one of the local video stores believes that there is an inverse ratio that governs the quality of films: The movies with fewer copies on the shelf often are the best movies. In the case of "All the Little Animals," I believe this to be true. I recommend this movie and reward it with 3½ stars.

[midge]

midge@lincolndailynews.com 

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