Goodnight Mister Tom (película)
# Goodnight Mister Tom (película)

Goodnight, Mister Tom es una película de 1998 producida para televisión, dirigida por Jack Gold. Se trata de una adaptación para la pequeña pantalla del libro homónimo de Michelle Magorian, novela que ocupa el puesto 49 en la lista The Big Read de las 200 novelas más populares en el Reino Unido. Se estrenó el 25 de octubre de 1998, y obtuvo varios premios.

## Argumento

Tom Oakley (John Thaw) es un anciano carpintero que vive en un pueblo inglés. Con el estallido de la II Guerra Mundial, es obligado a hospedar en su casa a William Beech (Nick Robinson), un niño que llega al pueblo junto a otros, evacuados de Londres. Al principio, Tom es reacio a enfrentarse a la situación, pero poco a poco va aceptando a Willie, hasta convertirse en su mentor.

Cuando Willie es llevado de vuelta a Londres, Tom descubre que vive en un barrio miserable y que es objeto de malos tratos por parte de su madre, desequilibrada mental. Tom hará todo lo posible por recuperar al niño, llegando a sacarlo por sus propios medios del hospital en el que se recupera después de haber sido hallado en un pequeño cuarto, amarrado a una cuerda junto a un bebé, en muy mal estado de salud.

Goodnight Mister Tom (film)

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This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages) This article needs additional citations for verification. (May 2015) This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points. (October 2021) Goodnight Mister Tom

British DVD cover Based on Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian Written by Brian Finch[1] Directed by Jack Gold Starring John Thaw Nick Robinson Music by Carl Davis Country of origin United Kingdom Original language English Production Producer Chris Burt Editor Jamie McCoan Running time 101 minutes Production company Carlton Television Release Original network ITV Original release 25 de octubre de 1998 (UK) 30 de mayo de 1999 (US) Goodnight Mister Tom is a 1998 film adaptation by Carlton Television of the novel of the same name by Michelle Magorian. The film was directed by Jack Gold, in his final film. The cast featured well-known British actors, including veteran actor John Thaw.

Plot In September 1939, the United Kingdom declares war on Nazi Germany, and children are evacuated from London to the countryside for their safety. Tom Oakley, a lonely and bitter old man living in the countryside village of Little Weirwold, is forced to look after one of the evacuees, William "Willie" Beech. Tom has long since withdrawn from life after losing his wife and child to scarlet fever many years before, while Willie is a quiet young boy who comes from an abusive home and is apprehensive of Tom.

Despite initial difficulties combined with his reluctance to care for Willie, Tom later takes pity on Willie after learning about his abusive upbringing by discovering the leather belt his mother used to beat him, and does his best to create a suitable home for Willie, such as providing him with new clothes and helping to educate him. Willie's new life with Tom eventually boosts his self-confidence and he opens up to Tom, looking up to him as a surrogate father figure. He also meets and becomes best friends with a Jewish boy, Zacharias "Zach" Wrench. However, shortly after Willie's tenth birthday, Tom receives a letter from Mrs. Beech, who claims to be ill and needs Willie back in London to look after her.

When Willie reunites with his mother, he discovers that she lied to get him to return and is completely fine. Willie also meets his baby half-sister, Trudy. Mrs. Beech claims she is a "present from Jesus", and Willie is too young and naïve to consider any other scenario. It is obvious, however, that Mrs. Beech has been made much more uneasy by the Blitz, and after an argument sparked by her discovery of the absence of the belt (which Tom buried), Mrs. Beech sends Willie to his room for the night. The next day, Mrs. Beech seems better after suffering a mental breakdown, but when Willie presents her with gifts that the locals from Little Weirwold had given him, and tells her about some of his friends, she accuses him of stealing and is angry he had been interacting with girls and Jews. She finally pummels him and eventually locks him in the cupboard under the stairs after he tells her that Jesus was a Jew. Back in Little Weirwold, Tom starts missing Willie greatly. Initially he thinks Willie has moved on from him, until he finds the belt he threw away a few days earlier. Tom has an instinct that Willie is in danger, so he travels to London with his dog Sammy.

After spending the night in an air raid shelter, Tom enlists the help of an A.R.P. Warden, Ralph, to find Willie's address. They are informed by a neighbour, unaware that Willie has returned from evacuation, that Mrs. Beech has left. Sammy detects a strange smell from the house and Tom breaks the door down. Sammy leads Tom and Ralph to the cupboard under the stairs, which appears to be the source of a vile stench. They find Willie bloodied and battered, but still alive, and chained to the closet wall. He is also holding Trudy, who has died. Tom visits Willie in the hospital and meets Dr. Stelton, a child psychiatrist who works with a children's home in Sussex. Stelton wishes to take Willie to the children's home as he believes he needs psychiatric treatment, although he promises to attempt to trace any surviving relatives that Willie might have. It is during a discussion with Ralph that Tom learns about Willie's early childhood; Willie's father was a violent wife-beating alcoholic who choked to death on his own vomit. Tom decides that it would be best for Willie to return to Little Weirwold and kidnaps him from the hospital.

Willie gradually recovers from his injuries and reunites with Zach and the others. While speaking with Zach, Willie learns about the concept of sex, something his mother raised him to believe was "something dirty" and unacceptable, and realises that his mother herself had been having a relationship with another man, which resulted in the birth of Trudy. Eventually, Stelton and some social workers come to Tom's house with the news that Willie's mother is dead, having committed suicide. They intend to take Willie to the children's home, but Willie and Tom protest. Tom explains a bad dream that Willie has repeatedly been having regarding this exact event, and argues that he needs to be with someone who loves him.

Tom speaks alone with an official from the Home Office, Mr. Greenway, and persuades him that the only reason he wants Willie back is because he loves him like his own son and that Willie has clearly been happier with him than he ever was when he lived with his mother. Mr. Greenway accepts Tom's story and allows him to adopt Willie. Unfortunately, Willie's newfound happiness is cut short when Zach receives a phone call from his mother, saying that London's East End was bombed while his father was there, and he wants to see Zach one last time in case he dies. Then Willie dreamt that he and Mr Tom slept in the air raid shelter. The next morning at breakfast Zach is then killed in another air raid, and the news devastates Willie, causing him to withdraw from life. willie thinks he saw Zack but he didn't it was just his imagination . Tom, however, remembers how he felt when he lost his own family, and in an attempt to stop Willie going down the same path he did, gives Willie a heartfelt speech that while a loved one may physically be gone, they will always live on inside someone else's heart.

Willie eventually overcomes his grief and teaches himself how to ride the bicycle Zach left behind. In the film's final scene, Willie rides the bicycle down the long hill and stops just in front of an impressed Tom, whom he addresses as "Dad" for the first time.

## Premios

* Lew Grade Award (1999)
* National Television Award (1999): Most Popular Actor (John Thaw); Most Popular Drama.
* TRIC Award (1999): ITV Programme of the Year
