The Son

The Son is a 2002 Belgian/French film directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. The story is of a divorced man whose discovery that his ex-wife is pregnant and is re-marrying motivates him to take the teen-aged murderer of his own son into his carpentry workshop as apprentice. Why does he do this? Even he doesn't understand it. The scene shown above is a pivotal episode between the man and the youth, as they have a bite to eat at a truck stop.

trailer:

Spirituality and Practice says, "The Son is a haunting parable filled with many moments of quiet dignity." Arts & Faith has it on their list of 100 spiritually significant films and says, "Even if the Dardennes were to insist that their characters have no religious affiliation, Olivier’s choices still add up to a passion play. This is as pure a “movie parable” as you’re likely to find." Salon has a mixed review. Slant Magazine calls it "a testament to Christian forgiveness".

Roger Ebert says,

"The Son" is complete, self-contained and final. All the critic can bring to it is his admiration. It needs no insight or explanation. It sees everything and explains all. It is as assured and flawless a telling of sadness and joy as I have ever seen....Walk out of the house today, tonight, and see it, if you are open to simplicity, depth, maturity, silence, in a film that sounds in the echo-chambers of the heart. "The Son" is a great film. If you find you cannot respond to it, that is the degree to which you have room to grow. I am not being arrogant; I grew during this film.

Rotten Tomatoes has a critics score of 88%.

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