Don't Call Me Son (2016) User Reviews

losing and gaining a mother

[cdcrb · 8/10 · 8 November 2016]

a child is kidnapped and raised as adopted. when he is about 17 or so, the authorities take away his "mother" and replace her with his "real" parents. they have a son, an obvious replacement for the stolen child. as you can imagine all kinds of problems ensue. the movie maker has the boy as sexually fluid, although he seemed into girls to this viewer. in any event his sexuality is irrelevant to the story. a 17 year old boy has enough to deal with and complicating his life with this distress must be unbearable. the parents, overjoyed at finding their "lost" child, are unable to cope with or understand his total unhappiness and rebellion. (I don't mean to imply that young women don't have problems growing up, but this film is about a boy) the movie has a documentary feel to it, and by that I mean it seems so real and not acted. excellent.

Unsatisfactory ending, unclear about intended message, if any. Central theme could have been interesting. Some plot lines seem misplaced

[JvH48 · 6/10 · 10 September 2018]

Completely unsatisfactory ending, and unclear what the intended message is/was, if any. The forced integration process of 17-year-old Pierre into a new family, was overly hasty as well as ineffective, rather counterproductive. Unnecessarily forcing elderly "love" without attention for Pierre as an individual, being the person at the receiving end, does not help much either. From the outside, I can understand the mother who waited 17 years to locate her son, who was stolen from the nursery, but she treated him like a new toy and overwhelmed him with motherly attention.

A parallel plot line is about Pierre's sexual preferences. While Pierre had hid most of his transsexual inclinations while in his "old" family, he overdid his coming-out after being forced into the "new" family. Maybe he did that to make a point, but I did not get what that point could be. And, if it had been intentional obstinacy, it was not clear to the receivers (his new parents) anyway.

The final scene with his new brother showed promises for a better future. Alas, if that was the intention, it did not land with me, because of the suddenly appearing final credits. It abruptly ended the story without closure and without a solution.