The Gift

[Lugnutz]

I think the content speaks for itself.

[DesDownunder]

Pass the tissues. We need more of these.

[Nick Deverill]

Wow!

And subtitled too (I rely on them being deaf)

I've always liked what the local video store called World Cinema as you get two for price of one, an interesting story and an understanding of the local culture.

[Lugnutz]

More goodness.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt7HM1zUTr8

[DesDownunder]

Inspires my faith in the universality of human love, and goodness.

[Cole Parker]

OK, I'll fill the role of a lone dissenter.

Why was the man so giving of his time and energy and money to everyone but his son? Why did the son grow up not having the love and support he so obviously wanted? Why did the father allow his son to so misunderstand what he was doing, and why?

A little better communication would have made both boy and man happier. It takes little effort to talk to a child. The child wants to understand, wants to revere the father.

This man might have been a nonpareil to all these strangers, but why couldn't he find the time to give his own son what the child needed?

C

[DesDownunder]

I took it that the son resisted the lessons of the father until he died. The son did not see the love that the father had for him, or the examples he tried to show his son of how giving becomes more than having, but the boy did not see his father's example as an inspiration. Sometimes, compassion has to be learned the hard way.

[Lugnutz]

I took it that the son resisted the lessons of the father until he died. The son did not see the love that the father had for him, or the examples he tried to show his son of how giving becomes more than having, but the boy did not see his father's example as an inspiration. Sometimes, compassion has to be learned the hard way.

This. The father tried to teach but it became harder to do. The second one is along the same lines.

[Cole Parker]

I took it that the son resisted the lessons of the father until he died. The son did not see the love that the father had for him, or the examples he tried to show his son of how giving becomes more than having, but the boy did not see his father's example as an inspiration. Sometimes, compassion has to be learned the hard way.

What I saw from the beginning was the boy trying to establish contact with the father and being rebuffed. Eventually, the boy began to scorn the father. But he was still a boy, and the man a man. It's up to the man to see the boy understands what he's trying to teach him, and so find more effective ways to get his message across if he's misunderstood. It appeared the man was indifferent to the boy's misunderstanding, and didn't begin to regret that the boy had turned away from him till the boy was departing. Yet, still, he make little effort to explain himself.

No, the boy never got the message the father was espousing. But, whose fault was it that the message never was understood? The responsibility here was in the hands of the man, not the boy.

C

[DesDownunder]

I guess we got different views on the movie.

[colinian]

I agree with Cole. My view is that the father is controlling and doesn't want the son to be his own person. The father wants the son to do exactly what the father wants, and the result is everything the son does he sees as wrong. He doesn't try to communicate, to talk to the son.

Colin

[Graeme]

To me, the father had a problem with explaining what he was doing. The money for donations that he took from his son he called "taxes". That was giving the wrong impression to the young boy and if that's how he explained other things, I'm not surprised that the son didn't understand. The father said that giving was more important, but when it came to money he took from his son rather than encouraging his son to give. The son eventually understood the message, but it was after his father had died.