Overrated and overhyped

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

Well, I felt the first trauma at screen for "Wadja", then it reappears with "Baby Call", then "Daisy Diamond" and now with this movie. Thus, my panic button isn't bloody monsters, slashers or creatures but only a single mum with her kid. As i met this situation in real, maybe that's the explanation.As this movie shows, in such a family, the mother is so obsessed that even if she loves truly her kid, she doesn't see him also. At the end, due to his erratic mother, kid being kid, he is put in danger and it's very painful to share this moments.Here, it's indeed the case: Kate is in search of meaning, of truth and she thinks that the answer lies with Sufism. So it's a trip from England to Morocco with her two daughters and as money is the blood and fuel that makes the world spins, without any, life becomes difficult. In a way, it has the same flavors that Coelho's novel "the Alchimist", mixing desert, spirituality...At first, the movie is a bit annoying as nothing really happens. But, surely, the movie gains intensity as the family takes trips, meet friends and the magical exoticism of Morocco comes inside you: As i went there once, there's truly a wonderful light and you can see it shining here. But you'll notice also that this country has one of the most colored cultures in the world and that it's also a very inegalitarian one as the gap between poor and riches is huge.Still very young for this movie and a mother to be, Kate is however very maternal and really cares for her daughters: she never shouts at them even as they talk straight. But it's her daughters that steal the spotlight: they are funny, intelligent, and ready to grasp the world. The bond between her is great as they could pass for real sisters.At the end, it's not a surprise that this movie is dates from 1998: today, I don't think that a self-discovery journey of a western family into the Arabic world would be produced so that's another reason to not miss this one.

Not your typical "chick flick", this Kate Winslet drama is at sometime a drama and other times a coming of age movie with Kate on the sidelines. Although she is the star of the movie and see on the box cover art of the movie and poster, she is not the main character of the story. The real stars of the movie are two very young actors Bella Bella Riza and Carrie Mullan. Both girls are very good actors and have wonderful screen chemistry. It is there story that fuels many interests. While Kate Winsley teases the audience from time to time with her body (nude) it is the innocence from Bella and Carrie that make the movie interesting and watchable.

I really don't understand all the negative feedback about this movie. It's about an English woman who takes her two young daughters to Morocco in a search for the meaning of life. "Julia" is guileless and careless, exposes her children to dangerous situations and people, gets a boyfriend who is a street entertainer and has been in trouble with the law. She wanders here and there, ultimately not really discovering anything at all. The little girls are good actors, and the film is as much about their reaction to this life as it is the mother's vain spiritual quest. The older child just wants to be "normal," and they both try to find a father figure in the boyfriend, who is kind to them, but comes in and out of their lives. I enjoyed all their characters and was interested throughout the film. It is very beautiful to look at and Kate Winslet is gorgeous as always. There is a nude scene in the beginning - I am starting to think she loves them. It is very much a drama, and will probably bore most guys, but I would think most women would enjoy it and appreciate it. Despite the situation, the mother and children really love each other and their interplay is interesting to see.

Kate Winslet is a great actress and not bad looking to boot. BUt this movie well lacked a story. Winslet's character was very unsimpathetic and selfish. She was basically a bad mother who put her kids in a bad and unhealthy situation all because she wanted to find herself. AAhh the sixties, what a wonderful time! Did this movie have a purpose or a meaning. I sure didn't see it. It is a very big waste of video tape. Seems like Winslet is too good of a talent to be in these kind of pictures, then again, she signs up for them.This movie get a minus four. It sucked to bad to even get one star out of four.