There's a strange indifference to the style of "Stolen Children," as the camera stands back and allows the audience to simply observe the actions of its protagonists without getting emotionally involved. That may be purposeful, reflecting the way people react to the tragedies of strangers in this mass communications world in which we live. And, in the end, the characters do manage to gradually get under your skin.
The central protagonists are two young children, Luciano (Guiseppe Ieracitano), a 9-year-old boy with sad eyes who doesn't speak a word through the first two-thirds of the film, and his 11-year-old, cynical sister Rosetta (Valentina Scalici), whose mother has been prostituting her for two years.
The film opens in Milan, as the mother is arrested by police and the children are taken from their home. The kids are then turned over to a pair of rookie Carabinieri officers to be escorted to a home for orphans in Rome.
The senior officer, however, has other plans and quickly goes AWOL for some fun. That leaves Antonio (Enrico Lo Verso) to do all the work. He's upset and terse with the kids, both of whom have serious psychological scars — Rosetta is manipulative and wild, while Luciano refuses to eat.
Then, when Antonio and the kids finally get to the orphanage, the priest refuses them — he doesn't want Rosetta around the other children.
So, Antonio is forced to take them to another juvenile home, this one in the kids' native Sicily. But along the way, Antonio's heart begins to go out to these children, and soon he is coming up with ways to try and lift their self-esteem. He takes them to his sister's home, where they (at first) are welcomed and made to feel part of an extended family for the first time; he takes them to the beach, where he gives Luciano a swimming lesson; and they even go sight-seeing, picking up a pair of French tourists along the way.
But all of this build-up is doomed to end unhappily, of course, especially when Antonio is chastised by his superiors for digressing from his duty — he's three days late in delivering his charges.
"Stolen Children" is a strong demonstration of how some children are denied their own childhood, and it manages to successfully make the audience feel for their plight. But in the end, the low-key approach of the filmmakers works against the material to some degree, leaving the audience feeling something — but perhaps not as much as was intended.
"Stolen Children" is not rated but would probably get an R for its adult themes, some profane and vulgar language and nude photos in a bachelor apartment.