I first watched this movie when I was late-elementary-school age (about ten-ish, if I remember properly). I was mesmerized, ironically, by the scenes that did not take place in the book (Colleen Dewhurst's character, and the nightmares). I'll admit I haven't read the book, so if I had, I might be disappointed by the film, as some viewers have obviously been; but as it stands, I found the movie version uplifting as spellbinding. The young Sarah Polley demonstrates the abilities that would later lift her to iconic status in her native Canada, while Mairon Bennett, though decidedly less over-the-top, turns in a respectable performance as well. Bear in mind that I was only about ten when I first watched this film. Now consider this: I am now twenty-one years old. The nightmare scenes have stuck with me all through the past decade, to the point where for about two years, I would quiz people to find if they knew in which movie these scenes had been found. I even posted on the IMDb boards. In either September or October of '05, someone read one of my posts and pointed me in the direction of this film. I bought a DVD from eBay and watched it last night for the first time in at least ten years. Although I am an adult now, it held up extremely well. How I saw it in the first place, I'll never know: it was a Canadian made-for-TV film, and I'm from Ohio and, at that time, my family had only what our antenna gave us (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, PBS, TBN, and UPN). At any rate, I consider this an amazing film, and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for an under-appreciated cinematic experience.
