In Depression-era England, a father loses his shipyard job, drifts into native fascism and, finally, into a tragic embrace of terrorism. Meantime his adorable young son (Anthony Barrows) struggles, with no less intensity, with the issues of growing up. Director Stephen Frears resists moralizing Dad's story or sentimentalizing the son's. The result is a tough, touching, instructive portrait of an almost lost world.
Animated actors dominated the box office, Barry Bonds hit 73 and 'It' turned out to be a scooter. TIME picks the bests and the worsts of this year...