Goodnight Mister Tom

Dir: Jack Gold, 1998 (9.9*)

This small Masterpiece Theater film, from a novel by Michelle Magorian, is a major understated masterpiece. John Thaw (of Inspector Morse fame) is an embittered widower in the English countryside forced to take in a child evacuee from London, played by Nick Robinson, during World War II. What follows is a simple story of how care and understanding can overcome personal grief and private torment, and when well done, without sentimentality. This small and unassuming film is a rare miracle of grace and character.