Romulus, My Father (2007)

The story is based on a young boy's memories.  The boy, Rai, is played by Kodi Smit-McPhee - and the performance is excellent. The setting is rural Victoria in the 1960s and the photography is remarkable.  Rai's mother, Christina (Franka Potente), is somewhat neglectful, tends to be depressed and is often not there.  So his father, Romulus (Eric Bana), is mostly a single parent and we learn much about the complexity of their relationship.  Their lives have many hardships which makes the movie a bit bleak, but happier memories are interspersed and help to lighten it.

I loved many aspects of how rural Victoria is portayed.  Two older ladies who give Rai cakes , and prepared a birthday cake for him are superb.

This is a great film and I am sure I will watch it again.