So why am I reviewing a movie made 30 years ago?

Because, despite the thousands of "family" films made since 1979, not many are as good as this one.

Most "family films," especially those made for television, end in an orgy of sentimentality. Neglectful fathers or mothers see the error of their ways and begin to pay attention to the psychological needs of their children.

The reality is that millions of children in the U.S. suffer miserable childhoods in the homes of parents who shouldn't be permitted to keep a dog, never mind a child.

This movie speaks to those children. It tells them that the rejection they experience every day of their lives is not their fault. It acknowledges the existence of "irregular" parents.

It's also a film about prejudice and the way it distorts the thinking and character of the person who harbors it as well as the person against whom it is directed.

Based on the 1973 autobiographical novel by Betty Greene, Summer of My German Soldier is set in a Southern state during World War II. The novel takes place in Arkansas, but the movie is set in Georgia, where it was filmed.

Principal Cast and Characters

Kristy McNichol Patty Bergen
Bruce Davison Anton Reiker
Esther Rolle Ruth
Michael Constantine Harry Bergen
Barbara Barrie Mrs. Bergen
Robyn Lively Sharon Bergen
James Noble Pierce
Roy Morris Freddy

Kristy McNichol won an Emmy for her performance as adolescent Patty Bergen, one of two daughters in a well-to-do Jewish family living in a small Southern town.

Patty's younger sister, blonde, blue-eyed Sharon, is their parents' darling. Patty, whose dark hair is always unruly and whose dark eyes often smoulder with pain and confusion, is the object of her father's anger and her mother's disgust.

Only two people in Patty's life offer her any kind of human relationship: the family's black maid Ruth, and Freddy, a boy from the wrong side of the tracks.

The story is a web of prejudices.

As the only Jewish family in a southern town, the Bergens are the objects of ridicule and contempt from the white residents who frequent their dry goods store. They have to go to another town to attend religious services. Harry suffers daily slights against his religion and ethnicity with a forced smile, but then turns his own prejudices against blacks and the poor whites represented by Freddy.

When Patty makes the acquaintance of Anton, the German prisoner of war, she is enchanted by his beautiful use of English. Books and words are a passion and a refuge for the lonely, introverted child. She has set herself to learn a new word every day and is ravished when Anton uses the word formidable.

When Anton escapes from the prison camp and is found and helped by Patty, he is astounded to learn that she is Jewish. Jews are supposed to hate Germans and vice versa. Anton teaches Patty that she has lovable and has admirable qualities. He proves his affection for her by risking capture when he hears her being beaten by her father.

There's no happy ending to this story, other than that Patty learns that it's not her fault that her father and mother are unable to recognize her worth as a human being. They are themselves so flawed and distorted by stereotypes and prejudices that they lack the capacity to see others as they are.

What a timely film!