Heiners Filmseiten – Wondrous Oblivion (en)

Wondrous Oblivion

German title: Die wundersame Welt des David Wiseman
Greek title: Γλυκιά λήθη
Russian title: Удивительная забывчивость
Original title: Wondrous Oblivion

Alternative titles:
Davids wundersame Welt | Γλυκια ληθη

Drama – United Kingdom
Production year: 2002
Movie length: 106 minutes

Director: Paul Morrison

Movie description:

Eleven year old David Wiseman is mad about cricket but no good at it. He has all the kit but none of the skill, and he’s a laughing stock at school. So when a Jamaican family move in next door and build a cricket net in the back garden, David is in seventh heaven. But this is 1960’s England, and when the neighbours start to make life difficult for the new arrivals, David’s family are caught in the middle, and he has to choose between fitting in and standing up for the new friends who have turned his world upside down.

London in the year 1960: David is Jewish and lives in a respectable, thoroughly British working class part of town. David’s one passion is cricket; his great love of the sport is, however, quite unreciprocated and every one of the boy’s attempts to join the sporting aces at school fails before he even tries. Dream and reality couldn’t be further apart – for David is simply hopeless at cricket. All of that changes, however, when a family from Jamaica moves into the house next door. Much to the surprise of everyone in the neighbourhood, this family decides to replace the obligatory rose bed in their back garden with a cricket green on which the family can train. Against the wishes of his parents, who eye their new neighbours with some suspicion, David makes friends with Judy, who practises regularly in the garden with her father. All the hours spent training in the neighbour’s garden pay off and David’s sudden knack for the game finally gains him a place in the school cricket team. At last, he feels accepted; what’s more, his new friends even attend his birthday party. Everyone turns up – except Judy, whom David has not invited. The next day, David pays the neighbours a call as usual – only to find the garden door firmly closed. Suddenly, David realises what he has done and his whole world collapses. Mortified with shame and feeling desperate, he is at a loss as to what to do next. Worse still: when he looks out of the window that evening he discovers the neighbour’s house in flames. David sounds the alarm immediately.

Boy Actors