If you haven’t seen it yet, I recommend the film I Am David with Jim Caviezel and Ben Tibber. It is about a young boy, David, who escapes from a Bulgarian Prison Camp and undertakes a journey northward to Denmark. It is based on the children’s novel North to Freedom by Ann Holm.
The movie contrasts the horror of communist prison camp life with daily life of people in free societies. Normal everyday interactions of young David with a wealthy Italian family and a Swiss woman are powerful in the way they illustrate the differences between an easygoing and joyful life of a free society and the de-humanizing forces of camp life.
David’s soul, mind, and worldview were shaped by the violent, godless, and ugly life of the camp and the movie, among other things, shows how David becomes humanized as he meets normal individuals striving to live good lives in freedom. It is a moving and uplifting film and it also reminds us of the horrors of communism and the privilege of living in a free society—and the need to protect it.
