Who Can Kill a Child - Lisa's Review

*** SPOILERS ***

I read the title of this weeks movie and right away got completely the wrong idea about what sort of movie this was going to be.  Since becoming a mum, I find any kind of child murder/torture pretty near impossible to watch, so I worried how I'd manage with this one.  However, it seems I was wrong about the plot line here.

The first 5-10 minutes of the movie were very, very difficult for me to watch, even moreso because it is real documentary footage of atrocities including World War 2, Vietnam and several famines.  This footage is horrid!  Not anything I haven't seen before and something we should never forget, but it's still difficult to watch none-the-less.  The footage concentrates on the effects on the children and gives the scarilly high number of deaths in these atrocities which can be attributed to being kids.  I've always found footage like this difficult, obviously because we know its real, but since becoming a mother, any kind of footage involving children is guaranteed to start me off.  Make it real and you have one depressed young lady on your hands.  The footage is interspersed throughout with an eerie soundtrack of children singing.  The tune will probably stay in my head for weeks to come (along with some of those images).  The point?  To get through to the viewer what children have been put through over the years down to us adults.  The biggest victim is always the children. Who's to say they won't have had enough of it being that way some day... and so to the premis of our movie.

The first 10 minutes and this footage seems to be the reason for the on and off of the DPP list.  It really isn't required to 'get' the movie, but it certainly adds strength to the premis.
When the documentary footage stops, we are transported to Spain where some sort of festival seems to be taking place.  There are pinatas and celebration everywhere, so much so that our stars and holidaying British couple (Tom & Evelyn) are unable to find an empty hotel to book into.  Cue the recommendation of a small island closeby which is nice and quiet, which is exactly what they're looking for as Evelyn is heavilly pregnant and in need of a quiet break.

When they get to the island it is clear there is something amiss.  It appears to be deserted.  It later transpires that the island is in fact inhabited by children.  There is the occasional adult, but that's at their own peril.  It seems that these kids seek to do away with the adults in the world.  If this is due to atrocities children have had to tolerate for years at the hands of adults, I'm not sure, but that's the way we're supposed to look at it.

I won't go into minute detail about what happens as this is actually a really decent movie and one which I heartilly recommend anyone reading this watch.  Needless to say there are deaths.  The evil nature of the children is quite shocking.   They enjoy playing with their own human pinata a bit too much for my liking.

What it comes down to quite simply is.. to save yourself, could you kill a child?  In this instance, given what evil little b*stards they are, most definately!

One aspect of the movie which I didn't like is the fact that there is a supernatural element which really was not needed.  It seemed if the children make eye contact with a normal child, they are able to 'change them' to be the same way.   I suppose they needed some way to make the baby inside Evelyn evil enough to attack her from inside.  A bit of attention and belly rubbing from one of the island girls was enough to manage that.

I won't give away the ending or say any more about anything that happens, but this was really easy to watch, had a nice tension throughout, didn't drag and had solid performances from all involved.  There were some inconsistencies and oversights which can be forgiven, but all in all, I enjoyed this one.

Gets a recommended from me.