this be a pointless presentation of a horribly sad story that deserve well . the casting be poor and act laughable ( especially blythe a 14 yr old meg she look every bit her 20 year and be amateur at best ) and dialog stupid and the david character a frustrating farce . nobody decent ( a david character be suppose to be ) would stand around for as long a he do and not tell his parent or somebody . and the neighbor be so clueless in this small town ( where scandal and gossip be usually welcome amid the boredom ) that they be unaware that the drunkard single mom on the block ( divorce mom be suspect back then and too ) be feed alcohol to their own kid and raise a brood of bully and violent brat . completely non believable . and i doubt a little guy like david would be able to off a maniacal and adult woman w or two swing of a crutch . it a shame that the opportunity to bring this excruciatingly sad and yet important story about child abuse to the world via film be squander so miserably .