Vitus

Vitus is a wonderful, somewhat old fashioned story a young boy's struggle of coming to terms with who he is. Fredi M. Muer did a wonderful job of directing this (Swiss) film and his screenplay, co-written with Peter Luisi, is very realistic.

At the beginning of the film we see young (6 years old) Vitus (Fabrizio Borsani) take to playing the piano like a fish takes to water. His mother Helen (Julika Jenkins) and father Leo (Urs Jucker) notice that he is not only a fantastic with the piano but that he is all around brilliant. But that can be a problem as we see the older (12 years old) Vitus (Teo Gheorghiu) having problems getting along with teachers and other students because he is so much smarter than them.

While his parents have great plans for him Vitus has other ideas. He seems to be cracking under the pressure and the only one he can relate to is his grandfather (the wonderful Bruno Ganz). An accident turns things around and Vitus starts to come into his own. That is all I will tell you about the plot.

As I've said before, the film is well directed and written. All of the acting is very good and Ganz is particularly terrific. Young Teo proves himself to be quite a good actor. But he wasn't acting when he was playing the piano. He is actually a piano prodigy.

The bottom line message of the film is that parents of gifted children should let them be children. Cultivate their talents but don't overdue it because they will not be able to stand the pressure.

I saw this film with a friend who studied piano and teaches it for a living. She couldn't get over it. We both thoroughly enjoyed and I highly recommend it for those of you who like intelligent cinema.