The elephant in the room here is the brother, whose religious convictions only serve to make him come across as an unreasonable fool. It's sad, because the first half hour is lovely. The relationship between the two main characters is sweet and believable, but the religious aspect soon overshadows all the positives in the narrative. It's simply just too much to bear. Clearly being religious is fine, but when it eclipses reason we have wandered into absurd territory and that character becomes kind of a buffoon. This is what happens here. Nobody wants to repeatedly get hammered over the head with God this and Satan that. Willingly giving away land and a family home just doesn't happen for any reason. Then there's the adoptive element too, which is handled in an equally ham handed fashion. Oh, you're not blood so you're not entitled to a darn thing and your opinior doesn't matter. The law doesn't operate that way. Not even close!! The scenery is lovely and the acting is top notch, except for the clown of a brother. Max Gail is compelling and captures very scene with a graceful power. Anyway, it lost me at the half hour point and never regained my full attention. What are supposed to come across as moving and engaging plot turns only come across as annoyances. These people are all supposed to be mature, responsible adults. None of their actions come across as so. It came so close to being a gem, but something was just off all the way through. It's a shame.....
