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The word freedom can have many connations and just about every meaning you can think of is covered in Paul Fiegs film, I Am David, adapted from Anne Holms novel, North to Freedom. Paul Fieg is best known as the creator of the popular television series Freaks and Geeks and author of Kick Me: Adventures in Adolescence. If that doesn’t ring a bell, Fieg was on television’s Sabrina, The Teenage Witch.
 
OK, back to David. Here is the story of a young boy who escapes from a prison camp and heads north across Italy to freedom. His adventures are many and encompass the good and bad of people, but always, the boy has the urge to keep on moving. The comfort zone in his mind isn’t complete. There is something else.
 
I Am David begins with life in a Bulgarian prison camp in about the mid-1950’s. David is a young boy who is helped to survive in the camp by a friend played by Jim Caviezel. Life is harsh and death is everywhere. When soap is missing, the prisoners are lined up. Somehow, David is spared a bullet, and manages to escape the camp and head for freedom. His adventures take him to the sea where he hides on a boat and is befriended by a sailor. On land in Italy, David heads north to Switzerland, a neutral country. Because there were a variety of people in the camp, David can understand many languages. His journey has both humorous and dramatic incidents as he learns who to trust and who not to trust. When they ask questions, he moves on. David rescues someone from a burning building and is rewarded with recuperation time at a palatial villa where he meets a young girl, quite interested in him. Alas, David keeps on traveling. Eventually comes near the Swiss border where he meets Joan Plowright, a painter who lives a solitary life in a small village. It is there that David’s life begins to change for the better. Although he is a boy about age ten, he has the survival instincts of an old man. He has never learned to smile and must try by propping up the corners of his mouth with his fingers. Bring a hanky when David goes into a church for the first time.
 
I Am David has coincidences that may seem unusual, but they help propel the story along, and lets face it, life does have coincidences. 
 
In order to make a film in which the main character is in 95 percent of the film, one must have wonderful casting, and that is where I Am David hits the mark. Ben Tibber as David is an innate actor and his expressive face works wonders for the audience. You can read in his eyes what he is thinking about the people he meets. Are they trustworthy or not? Joan Plowright has a guarded look also, but hers is sadness from regret. Although in a brief role, she makes a lasting impression, which could even be considered award-nomination worthy. Hristo Chopov as the commandant of the prison camp is in the film a short time, but makes an impression. He will be seen as Pontius Pilate in Mel Gibson’s The Passion next spring. Jim Caviezel has such expressive eyes. When you first see him in the camp, he looks positively haunted. Then there is Maria Bonavie (from the original Swedish Insomnia) as David’s mother, seen in flashbacks, who brings to mind the sense of loss felt throughout tale.
 
The photography is marvelous in I Am David and was shot in Bulgaria. Stuart Copeland’s soundtrack adds to the flavor of the countries David is traveling through, as do the villages and the exquisite villa. Just as the audience studies the various areas David travels through, so David studies the faces of the people he meets. He reads them as we would read a book. For a young actor, this is an accomplishment. 
 
There is one thing especially in I Am David that this reviewer liked. In films where people meet, there is inevitably the long running-toward-each-other shot that takes 20 minutes and makes you wonder if they are really coming from Los Angeles and Boston. Here, even though there are absences, it is handled well. Not to worry. Some cliches can be broken. Paul Fieg directs I Am David with flair. This reviewer hopes there will be more from him soon.
 
Copyright 2003 Marie Asner
Submitted 12/29/03