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The other reviewers have written about the film's merits. There was however one aspect of the movie that was so poorly realised that I found it very difficult to sit through the film. Sound design is incredibly important in film-making and often undervalued. However, in 'The Polar Boy', it seems that the sound team are shouting at you to pay attention to their work. The volume of white noise, traffic and bird sounds are ramped up so high that they overwhelm most scenes. All I could notice was how loud all the background noise was and it took me right out of the movie. This may have been a decision on the part of the director and post production team to give the film a documentary style feel but it has unfortunately ruined the movie.

In real life the human ear filters out white noise. Maybe the film makers thought the over amplified background noise would give the film a heightened sense of reality, maybe it was meant to create unease in the audience. However, what it achieves is to make the audience very aware they are watching a film rather than engaging in it.

A good example of the total being less than the sum of its parts. An incredible story about one of the greatest injustices of the 20th Century is brought to the screen with all the energy and emotion of a sloth suffering with depression. Lacklustre direction, shoddy camerawork and a truly awful soundtrack make this difficult to watch. The viewer should be feeling angry at the agents of corporate greed and cheering the heroic protagonist, but instead I was left feeling angry at the film-makers for ruining such a great story. Chris Evans is good but this needed an actor with more passion and energy, like a young Al Pacino. However, he is the best thing in the film, every department falling short. One scene near the end should have carried a sledgehammer like punch to the gut but is filmed and acted so flatly, that the emotional highlight of the film passes by noticed. A terrible disappointment. Let's hope this story gets remade by some more competent film makers in the future.

I missed this film on general release and have just watched it on DVD. My expectations were low as I had read mixed reviews when it came out in 2001. However, I loved watching this film from the first frame till the last. I cannot remember smiling so much throughout a movie since 1980 when I saw "the Stunt Man". This film has a certain quality about it that is hard to quantify, but it is one of the most engrossing, captivating and enjoyable films I have ever seen. The storyline is intriguing and the casting is just right. There is something about the fluid camera-work, the seamless editing and the sensitive direction that gives this film a certain special quality that cannot be manufactured by some think-tank of executives. The film is helped by solid performances. Jeff Bridges, so often mannered and self aware hits the right beats in an uncomplicated and sympathetic performance. Kevin Spacey is believable as the ambiguous patient; a role that could easily have been over played; and the supporting cast are a pleasure to watch in a series of roles that could quite easily have encouraged some show boating or overtly cloying or mushy performances. This was an unexpected pleasure. I feel that this is one of those rare films that surpasses the original vision of its creators and somehow creates a world that the viewer wants to become fully involved in. It is very hard to critique this film in an objective way as what makes it connect so well with its audience is so intangible. If you want to see a movie that makes you feel good while you are watching it, then they do not come more highly recommended than this.