"Turtle Diary" is a movie easily underestimated: the viewer is not 'pushed' through a nerve-wrecking plot and scenes. However, this movie rewards the viewer with an intimate and at times moving picture of common people in unusual circumstances. Ben Kingsley plays a totally credible single male living an undisturbed life as a book-selling clerk. During his daily visits to the giant sea turtles - rare animals on the brink of extinction - in the Zoo Aquarium he develops the moral conviction that the animals should be set free. He discovers that a female writer of nature books, who sometimes visits the bookstore where Kingley works, shares his vision and together with the zoo assistant they make a plan and prepare the illegal 'abduction' of the turtles. The movie succeeds in engaging the viewer in the plans and the suspense of the preparation while at the same time presenting a realistic and sometimes moving picture of daily life in the English lodging house where Kingley lives. There is even a little surprising romantic touch at the end of the movie. The movie invites the viewer to identify himself (and herself) with the main characters. There are reminders of classic Italian neo-realistic cinema in the combination of realism with the feeling of personal involvement it can evoke from the viewer.
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