AllMovie

This insightful, excellent drama is based on a popular novel from the 1930s and is the second cinematic version of the story of young Whitey (Eric Clerckx). Whitey and his family live in poverty in Flanders, working for a wealthy farmer. Whitey's main passion is reading, although he has no affection for school or for farm work. His hyperactive imagination finds an outlet with his friends, as he sets them up to play-act battles from literature. In order to feed his reading habit Whitey borrows or steals to get books. Already in trouble and not yet out of school, Whitey's future looks bleak -- he was born in the wrong social register at the wrong time.