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There is this book out called The Dangerous Book for Boys.  It is an elephantine tome of all things that boys need to experience and experiences that turn boys into men.  It is both a fun read and nostalgic look at true childhood.  Son of Rambow is a British import that perfectly captures childhood in the 1980’s and the lives of real boys. 

Will Proudfoot (Will Poulter) is a young kid in a very conservative religious sect called the Brethren.  This group doesn’t allow popular music and television.  Dad is dead and Mom is trying to keep her sanity while raising two kids and caring for an aged parent.  She believes that the Brethren are the right thing for her and her family.  Will likes to stay outside in a shed that is filled with his father’s old things.  He is a very lonely boy in need of a companion.

When the other kids have to watch educational TV at school, Will is sent in the hall.  It is there that he meets Lee Carter (Bill Milner).  He is a rough and tumble kid, always in trouble.  Carter is also abandoned, with a mother living in Spain and his only family is a spoiled older bother. In the hallway, these two boys bond.

Lee has a video camera and wants to enter this kid video competition.  Through a series of misadventures, Will sees his first film, a bootlegged copy of the Stalone flick First Blood.  Will is amazed by everything he sees in the movie and his very creative mind takes over.  He concocts a film, Son of Rambow, and Lee agrees to make the flick.  These two go through a series of near death stunt sequences in order to make the film. 

At their school, a group of French exchange students arrive.  Didier, the coolest looking kid in the group, amazes the entire school.  Almost instantly he gets a posse.  Every girl in school stands in line while he tests their kissing abilities.  He finds out about the movie and gets Will to put him in the film.  This crushes Lee who sees this entire endeavor as a two-man operation.  The rest of Son of Rambow is the finishing of the film and the resolution of Will and Lee as friends. 

Garth Jennings has crafted a modern version of a Tom and Huck escapade.  These are real boys having real adventures.  Not only does he capture the time and the place, but also he captures the attitude of being a kid on the verge of being a teenager.  He gives us a perfect palate of color in Son of Rambow, with vivid greens and sparkling golden pastures.  It is almost a travelogue to seeing the English countryside. 

As a writer, Jennings understands the emotions behind the motivations.  It is brilliant screenplay that doesn’t go for easy, cheap laughs and doesn’t take the Hollywood ending.  The honesty behind the effort is amazing.

The two lead actors were perfect because they were kids first and actors second.  This is a kid’s adventure tale full of daring-do but at the same time is shows how families are formed out of necessity.  Each boy has something emotionally the other needs and it is their connection that makes best friends of the two. 

It is easily the best import of 2008 to date and a fun and fulfilling tale of both friendship and amateur movie making.  It may be hard to find, but seek out Son of Rambow.  You will not be disappointed.

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