My Life As A Dog

We bought this DVD because the film's director, Lasse Hallström, was also responsible for Chocolat, a magical film that tells of human frailties, rivalries and small-town politics but leaves you feeling good about life and wishing there was a bar of chocolate in the house. My Life as a Dog has the same light touch and the same sympathy for its characters, but the setting is altogether bleaker, much more in the typical Swedish mould of ordinary folk trying to survive in the face of terrible weather and everything going wrong. Its main focus is on the problems of childhood and growing up, its central character being a small boy to whom life has delivered a pretty duff hand of cards. He survives largely through the help and understanding of his uncle, a likeably unconventional character who is still able to see the world through a child's eyes. It's a genuinely touching film, sometimes amusing too, although we didn't emerge from it smiling as we did with Chocolat. More, it leaves you wondering at the resilience of human beings. You feel that these people will be okay, now the worst is over. Recommended, well worth an hour and a half of anyone's time.