Edges of the Lord

Even though it was never released theatrically in the United States, 2001's Edges of the Lord has slowly and quietly gained a reputation as one of the most sensitive and heartbreaking recent dramas about the Holocaust. Prior to starring in Steven Spielberg's sci-fi epic A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, Haley Joel Osment lent his precocious talent to this superbly crafted Polish-American co-production, playing Romek, a young Polish Jew saved from the concentration camps when his parents send him to live with the Catholic family (including two boys about his age) of a rural village farmer. The Nazi presence and the threat of death are never far away, but Edges of the Lord (the title refers to the unused crusts of Catholic communion wafers) is more closely concerned with Romek's struggle as an outsider in a close-knit Catholic community, his friendship with a kindhearted priest (Willem Dafoe), and his coming-of-age adventures with other local children, including one young boy (played with astonishing depth by eight-year-old Liam Hess) who suffers psychological aftershocks from the horrors that unfold around him. An exceptional film that teaches without preaching, Edges of the Lord features death and deep sadness, but also luminous moments of compassion, tolerance, and childlike resilience. Highly recommended. (J. Shannon)