I
The
Train

Unlike "Don't be afraid" [see below] , this movie received many reviews
I'll quote one - from the New York Times - which understood, what I understoud : a track to redemption

A Father's Arduous Trek to Redemption
By MANOHLA DARGIS / Published: December 22, 2004

A love story about a man and his son, "The Keys to the House" is the kind of quietly unassuming tear-jerker that works its way into your heart despite the occasional cries of protest emanating from your head. On a train from Milan to Berlin, a young appliance repairman, Gianni (Kim Rossi Stuart), takes charge of the son he abandoned at birth. Now 15, that child, Paolo (Andrea Rossi), has been under the care of his aunt and uncle who, after ministering to his developmental and physical disabilities, have decided to turn him over to his father, ostensibly for therapeutic reasons.

Like a few of the film's other bothersome details - principally an inexplicable side trip to Norway that leads you to suspect it has to do with the Norwegian company that helped produce the movie - the reasons for Paolo and Gianni's reunion don't track especially well. The story opens with Paolo being delivered into Gianni's care while the teenager is en route to Berlin for physical therapy. The German therapist turns out to be one tough cookie. She barks instructions to her tiny, underdeveloped patient with the ferocity of a drill sergeant, and initially I wondered if we're supposed to think that Italian therapists are too soft for this kind of heartbreaking job. Like the Norwegian company, the German production companies listed in the credits may afford a better explanation.

The brave new world of international film financing occasionally means that stories that might once have been better served by one locale are sometimes forced to hopscotch from financing country to financing country. This matters to the rest of us only when, as with "The Keys to the House," the different locations and players intrude on a story's integrity. The director here, Gianni Amelio, has several powerful features under his belt, including "The Stolen Children" and "Lamerica," and while it's a pleasure to see his name on the screen again (his last feature, "The Way We Laughed," was released here in 2001), it is disconcerting to find him navigating around such geographic obstacles. It's particularly unfortunate because the story he tells here comes fraught with considerable peril.

That peril takes the shape of a teenager as bent as a kinked pipe cleaner and wearing a smile so disarming it could slay an army of thousands. Disabled people generally get a raw deal in the movies. In most fiction films they tend to be on tap mostly for their symbolic value, as representations of life gone out of balance, or as the means for the emotional, spiritual and psychological redemption of the nondisabled characters invariably at the story's center. ("Rain Man," ad nauseam). Redemption is certainly central to "The Keys to the House," which is, after all, about a man trying to right his wrongs. But Mr. Amelio suggests that redemption is not just a matter of making amends; it's also hard, unforgiving work.

None of this would matter if Paolo weren't as charming, irritating and, finally, as mysterious as any kid his age. He's difficult not only because he is disabled - Mr. Amelio addresses his difficulties with a pitiless eye - but also because he is a teenager. "The Keys to the House" is frustrating on numerous counts, including a diffuse, unsatisfying performance from Mr. Stuart and the sudden introduction (and disappearance) of an underdeveloped character played by Charlotte Rampling. But it is with Paolo that Mr. Amelio works a modest miracle. Because the young actor who plays Paolo is himself disabled, it's impossible to know whether he is playing a character or a version of himself. Whatever the case, he keeps you hooked by virtue of his humanity, not his disabilities.

'

Gianni and Paolo meet for the first time, board a train to Berlin for the best Children's Orthopedic Hospital available. Very gradually the two begin to learn about each other; Paolo wants to prove he is self-reliant, Gianni wants to prove he is an adequate caregiver. In Berlin Gianni observes Paolo's intensive physical training, finding the boy's strengths and qualities and need for love. While Paolo is hospitalized Gianni meets Nicole (the brilliant Charlotte Rampling) whose 20-year-old daughter Nadine (Alla Faerovich) is severely physically challenged: Nicole has devoted her life to being at the bedside of Nadine and shares with Gianni the truths about parenting challenged children. Their conversations are sage and realistic and enormously touching.

Gianni and Paolo begin to bond, to share their lives, to explain the fifteen year gap in their relationship, and Gianni agrees to fulfill Paolo's dream of going to Norway to meet Paolo's pen pal love Kristine. Along this 'road trip' the two ultimately face the idiosyncrasies life has offered each, they grow from each other and .... well, the ending is far too beautifully formed to spoil.

Obviously the easy way to make this film would have been to hire actors to 'mimic' challenged characters, but it is to Amelio's credit and for our good fortune that he has cast unknown physically challenged youths in the pivotal roles. Andrea Rossi as Paolo is a revelation: he gives the kind of performance that is at once honest and yet delicately nuanced. Both Kip Rossi Stuart and Charlotte Rampling are extraordinary, each playing their roles without a trace of pathos. This film does not stab for emotional response; it simply allows connection with a story about the importance of human love and compassion and family commitment. I cannot recommend a film more highly

but you'll have to help me dress

From "Irish-Times" Sat 05 May 2000

The Oscar-winning American actress, Dianne Wiest, takes the leading role in the feature film, Not Afraid, Not Afraid, which starts shooting here on May 29th and will be directed by by the French writer-director, Annette Carducci. Wiest has won the best supporting actress Oscar twice, both times for Woody Allen movies - in 1986 for Hannah and Her Sisters and in 1994 for Bullets Over Broadway.In Not Afraid, Not Afraid she will play a woman who summons her son (Jack Davenport from This Life and The Talented Mr Ripley) and his wife (Elsa Zylverstein from Metroland) to tell them she is dying. Going on a nostalgic journey to the homes of her ex-lovers, she inadvertently brings along her eight-year-old grandson who has Down's Syndrome. The boy will be played by Michael Weir, who is from Belfast.

I'm writing an e-mail to the Irish-Times
Sir, On Sat 05 May 2000 [yes! 8 years ago!] you announced
"the feature film, Not Afraid, Not Afraid" will start "shooting here on May 29th and will be directed by by the French writer-director, Annette Carducci."

I have a question and a quest:
the question:
your entry says, that the child with the Down Syndrome will be played by a child from Belfast: Michael Weir.
On all official – though meager – info sites I read, that the actor was Paul McGlinchey, a grownup man.
Since I was so enchanted by the child's play, if indeed it was a play and not simply acting as himself,
I would really like to know the facts.

The quest:
The song at the end of the movie: "Don't be afraid", written by Annette herself, is so beautiful,
that I would like to sing it myself.
I managed to record it from the TV on my cell-phone,
but – since English is not my mother-tongue and the recording is not the best –
I can't understand all the words.
Is it possible to get Annette's address so I can ask her myself
and also acknowledge her for this fantastic movie,
about which one of the two only "user comments" (no review, nothing!) remarked:
"unless the word is spread, this film will remain an undiscovered gem."

Thank you for your relating! Christa-Rachel Bat-Adam