The Other Child

2011, 120 minutes

'The Other Child' is an adaptation of the Charlotte Link novel, set in both modern day and war-time Scarborough. When twelve year old Fiona Barnes is evacuated from London during the Blitz, she ends up on a remote farm in Scarborough where she meets, and falls in love with, the idealistic and patriotic son of her host family; Chad Beckett. Fiona is joined on the farm by a young autistic boy, Brian Sommerville, who has been orphaned in the bombing of London. Forming a strong emotional attachment to Fiona, Brian is seen as little more than irritant by Fiona and Chad as their love blossoms, but is cared for by Mrs Beckett until her death through illness. With Chad finally being drafted to fight abroad, and Fiona briefly at home in London visiting her Mother, Brian is allowed to leave the relative safety of the farm to live, and work, in squalor at a neighbouring farm owned by a notoriously abusive and uncaring McBright. Upon learning of Brian's fate, Fiona and Chad do nothing to rescue him - a decision which drives them apart through guilt and which will haunt them both throughout their lives. When events in the modern day threaten to have far reaching consequences for their children - Old Fiona and Chad are thrown together again. Chad, now seemingly resigned to his fate, sits mute and immobile whilst Fiona attempts to avoid the mistakes of their past