What an incredibly special movie. A drama about learning to not hate yourself, to understand others, to become a better person, to change, and to grow. All done with drama – and melodrama – but not in the usual, expected ways. This is a treasure of a movie – a thoughtful, introspective, and even funny film.

The film is about a bully and his target, a deaf girl new to the elementary school. But it’s also about that bully and the same girl, now in high school, with him realizing what a beast he’d been. And it’s about their circle of friends and all those things I mentioned in the first paragraph. Can the ex-bully learn to be better, can he make amends with the girl without it being about himself, and what hidden depths exist in the otherwise idealized deaf girl?

I loved the emotional intelligence of this film. It’s not simple. It asks tough questions, gives us flawed characters (and not just the protagonist), and its smart enough to tug at our heart-strings in unique ways.

One concern I had was that, since this is largely told from the boy’s perspective, that the girl would remain this idealized saint. And certainly she’s a bigger hearted person than anyone else, but she too has depths and her own inner life. But we don’t see the story from her point of view… which would have been the expected approach for this type of story.

This is a great film that moved me to tears on a number of occasions. But also smiles and warmth and truth. My only regret was completely missing the US release… and even then waiting this long to catch up with it on Netflix.

Score: 91