*Spoilers* This is the (fictional) account of Vitus von Holzen, a piano prodigy. In the first third of the movie Vitus is six years old and in the rest he is twelve. The main stroke of brilliance this film has to offer is in the casting of two piano prodigies to play Vitus. Teo Georghiu plays Vitus at age twelve, he was about twelve at the time of the filming and is stunningly talented. Most people are captivated by genius no matter what the area of expertise, and genius in a young person is particularly fascinating. It seems that the main areas open to childhood prodigies are chess, music, and mathematics and it is not uncommon for a genius in one of these areas to have talents in the others. If you have ever attempted to excel in any area and encounter a person who is so above and beyond what is normally considered excellence, then your appreciation for such a person is heightened. Teo Gheorhiu commands such esteem. By far the high points of the movie for me were in seeing him play and marveling at his ability.Vitus faces a decision that I assume most prodigies face, and that is how much of their lives should be devoted to developing their gift. To rise to the top, the devotion required would be pretty much all-consuming, or at least it would set them apart from a more normal childhood. Vitus faces such a decision, a decision accentuated by the pressures of his parents to capitalize on his gift and the mockery of his fellow students, since he excels in the classroom as well. It seems that the only person who simply wants Vitus to find his own way is his grandfather (Bruno Ganz in a fine performance), and Vitus establishes a close bond with him.The internal conflict Vitus faces between conforming and pursuing his talent is set up nicely. In order to fit in, Vitus fakes a diminution of ability after an attempt to put on wings and jump from the second story of his house results in a concussion. It was not clear to me if Vitus purposely staged this event so that he could subsequently fake normalcy, or if he just recognized the possibilities the accident afforded him. But no matter how hard Vitus tries to be an average kid, like buying popular music CDs, his interest in classical music cannot be suppressed and he buys a CD of Bach's Goldberg Variations played by Alexey Botvinov that excites him to try his own playing on his grandfather's piano. Only his grandfather knows that Vitus' talent is still there and Vitus is faking its lack.This is a great setup for a rich final payoff that is totally squandered in the final third where Vitus starts playing the stock market in order to save his father's job. Due to insider information he makes millions and winds up buying a NASA-sized flight simulator for his aviation loving grandfather. When I saw that thing in Vitus' grandfather's shop, I knew the movie had taken a regrettable wrong turn into fantasy land. For one thing Vitus would have been slapped with an insider trading lawsuit fairly quickly. As he continued to make more millions and bought out his dad's old company, I lost respect for this movie.In addition to being a piano prodigy, Georghiu is a good actor with a winning personality. Based on the brief interview with him on the DVD extras it would appear that Georghiu has not been tortured by life decision conflicts. He says he wants to play a concert in the Royal Albert Hall by the time he is twenty and also remarks that in order to make a lot of money you have to be really good. I hope he achieves both of those goals.For a movie that treats the same themes (but chess instead of pianism) see "Searching for Bobby Fischer." That film stays grounded, perhaps because it is based on a true story.

The life of a child prodigy is never an easy one, and six-year-old Vitus von Holzen is quite the child prodigy. With an I.Q. so off-the-charts it's been classified as "incalculable," Vitus is already such an accomplished pianist that he would give Mozart and Beethoven a run for their money in the musical genius sweepstakes. Vitus' parents are justifiably proud of their son and understandably intent on affording him every opportunity possible for him to fulfill his rare, God-given potential. But how is a boy supposed to have a "normal childhood" when he's eons ahead of his peers in intelligence and talent and when even his own teachers are intimidated by his knowledge? Small wonder he's an arrogant, precocious little brat long before he's reached puberty (he's already planning on attending college at age 13). Yet, at what point does a boy finally rebel against his "specialness" and seek the life of a "normal" child? Well, in a shocking turn of events, Vitus comes up with a way of doing just that."Vitus" is a superb German film that vividly captures the stress and strain of having an adult brain essentially trapped inside a child's psyche. But the movie also brings into focus the nonstop struggle the parents go through as they attempt to find a balance between nurturing and cultivating the child's talents, on the one hand, and not making a psychological wreck of him on the other. And how much of their obsession with the child's gift really just comes down to the glory he reflects back on them as parents? And whose dreams are they really trying to fulfill through his success anyway, his or their own?Brilliantly written by Peter Luisi, Lukas B. Suter and Fredi M. Murer, and solidly directed by Murer, "Vitus" takes us into a world we don't often visit in the movies - that of the mysteries of the intellect - and does so with ingenious plotting, complex characterizations and outstanding performances by a wonderful cast. Julika Jenkins and Urs Jucker are excellent as the parents who certainly mean well but who don't always act in the best interest of their child, while Bruno Gans provides a strong emotional focal point as the loving grandfather who is the one person in Vitus' life who provides him with a safe place where he can live life without pressure and just be a normal kid. The two young actors who play Vitus - Fabrizio Borsani at six and Teo Gheorghiu at twelve - don't hit a single false note in their portrayals of a character who is half grownup and half temperamental child.Nobody is a hero or a villain in this film; they're just well-intentioned individuals trying to work their way through an unusual and challenging situation without making a total mess of everything in the process.The script does lose its way a bit in the second half, wandering too far into wish-fulfillment fantasy and the arcane muddle of big business deal-making and stock portfolios for its own good, but that's a small enough flaw in a movie that otherwise provides an abundance of inarguable virtues.

It is an open secret that Swiss German movies are almost unknown outside of Europe and that they seldom or never win Oscars. Well understood, I speak here about movies in Swiss German language. Swiss German is by most Americans not even recognized as German; for Americans who have traveled to Europe, it sounds like Austrian, which is does not at all, in reality. Therefore, it does not astonish either, that most Americans do not know that there was a time when Swiss German movies were en vogue, this was in the 50ies and in the early 60ies. Even before, in the 30ies and 40ies, there was a time when it looked like Swiss German movies would reach international standards in the near future.But unfortunately, except some highlights like "Bäckerei Zürrer", "Hinter den sieben Gleisen" or "Dällebach Kari" by Kurt Früh, "Ueli der Knecht" and "Ueli der Pächter" by Franz Schnyder (which are available in Japan, but not in the US), "Die plötzliche Einsamkeit des Konrad Steiner" by Kurt Gloor (all available in region-bound, non-subtitled dvds for horribly high prices in Switzerland), Swiss movies are not reaching the standards of other European states. And now comes Vitus which has been nominated for Oscar, from a film director who has made not much more than a handful of feature-length movies. How does this movie fit into the Swiss film tradition? For everybody who knows the movies that I have mentioned above, the structure of "Vitus" is not unknown: it is a movie that belongs to the fairytale-genre introduced by Kurt Früh fifty and more years ago. Vitus, the "wunderkind" who plays most difficult sonatas before he is 10 years old, is ready to graduate from high school with 12 and earns with his own company millions and millions of Swiss Franks by stock-exchange - this is not so different from the miraculous fate of the poor and miserably living family Caduff to whom the wizard comes in the person of the realty-owner Mr. Frehner who gives them for free a luxury-apartment on the Nob Hill of Zurich and turns them from gypsies to winners of the post-war-time in "Es Dach überem Chopf". However, there is a huge difference between "Vitus" and the old Kurt Früh-movies: the ladder are social-critique, the Vitus is not, but stays on the surface. Instead, we learn about the desolate status of today's Swiss German which is mixed up with American lumps. Above all, "Vitus" simply lacks its anchoring in today's Swiss society - as Kurt Früh's movies were strongly anchored in the Zurich society of the 50ies and 60ies. Although we see Vitus' father and, shortly, his mother, at work, the family stays isolated from the rest of Zurich's society. For example, we do not even see any neighbors in or around the house in Wipkingen, where the family von Holzen lives. All the encounters of Vitus and his family stand under the appearances of wonders that will happen, not under actual social interplay. The movie, therefore, is a nice and entertaining story about a fictive little boy, but not more and settles, compared to Kurt Früh's movies, on a much deeper level than it had been reached in Swiss film culture already at the end of the fifties.

Many ambitious parents that detect talent in their children, tend to subject them to lives that rob the kids of a childhood. That seems to be the case with Leo and Helen Von Holzen, the parents of the gifted Vitus. The boy shows, at an early stage, his aptitude for the piano. In making Vitus study and prepare for a career in music, the elder Von Holzens sacrifice his normal life as they make the young child into studying constantly in order to fulfill their own expectations for the child.One place Vitus feels at home is with his paternal grandfather, a crusty old man with a meager income, but with a lot of love to offer the boy. Vitus own reward is the interest he takes in his teen-aged baby sitter, but when the parents see in horror the surveying tape they have installed at home, they are horrified for watching their son being just a kid having fun.When we meet Vitus later on, he decides to rebel by jumping off the balcony of his parents' apartment and survives miraculously. He begins by assuming a new personality that is just the opposite of his old self. Thus, he enrolls in a regular school, where he is bored stiff, but at least, he is surrounded by regular kids.Vitus father's company is not doing well, and Leo has a chance of losing his job. Vitus, who of course, is just as talented and intelligent as before, devices a plan to rescue his grandfather from almost poverty, as well as his own father.Fredi Murer, the director of the film, achieves a sure hit with this film that will charm audiences that look for a good and entertaining time in watching an uplifting film. Mr. Murer was lucky in securing the help of Fabrizio Borzani and Teo Gheorgiu, two young piano prodigies that are impressive as they play real music in the film.The best thing, though, is Bruno Ganz, the great German actor who is on hand to impress us with his own take on the grandfather. Mr. Ganz does an incredible job as the rumpled older man who is totally amazed by the innate intelligence of his grandson. Urs Jucker and Julika Jenkins appear as the ambitious parents who finally come to terms with their amazing son."Vitus" is recommended for audiences of all ages. The background music is glorious, especially the last sequence where Vitus plays a concert in front of a live audience with a full orchestra.