Days before a family leaves for a long stay in Africa they receive a call from the organisation they are staying with telling them their youngest child is too young to come. When they find an aunt willing to take care of her they decide to leave anyway and so the child is left with her aunt. The aunt has plans of her own and less feeling for responsibility than she should have though and so the kid is quickly left alone. And with that starts a tale of a 9 year old girl living on a farm, having to deal with life on her own for summer.
Starting from this baseline it can't be surprising that things are going to be difficult. What follows is her tale, her coming to age too quickly and her intense loneliness. It is filmed in a slow way with many long shots and a handful of light moments to make sure it doesn't become a tearjerker altogether. The film rolls on with a steady pace and is completely carried by the appearance of the little girl who despite of her age manages to be the character she is supposed to be. It's not like the adult actors are doing badly, it's just that she is doing better, or at least far better than what might expect from a kid.
All in all, an amazing and depressing piece of film which can only make one want to beat some common sense into some people - in this case the aunt of the child.
Amazingly good stuff, 8 out of 10 kids damaged
