U | 1h 40 min | Drama | 2005
A mountain isn’t for the faint-hearted: It rewards only the brave. Those who dare its rarified heights can awaken to their real selves because they see and hear farther, clearer. Johanna Spyri’s 19th-century novel “Heidi” is about how some learn that lesson better than others. For over a century, it has inspired dozens of literary and artistic adaptations, one of the most endearing being Paul Marcus’s film of the same name.
Orphaned and penniless Heidi (11-year-old Emma Bolger) finds herself abandoned by grasping Aunt Dete, and left to the care of her grouchy grandfather (Max von Sydow) who lives by himself in the Swiss Alps. Furious at being forced to suddenly turn caretaker, he first cold-shoulders the cheery Heidi. In time, he grows attached to her, finding in his radiant granddaughter a kindred spirit who loves the mountains, skies, trees, goats, and birdsong even more than he does….