See this film: The Foster Boy @ the Coolidge

When you think of the land that gave us Heidi, cuckoo clocks, and cheese, the topic of child abuse is not likely to come to mind. Nonetheless, from 1800 to the 1950s Switzerland farmed out hundreds of thousands of orphans and wayward youths to workhouses where they served as virtual slaves. In a presentation by the Goethe Institut, Swiss filmmaker Markus Imboden dramatizes this Dickensian injustice with this tale of Max, a 12-year-old boy sold to a farm family, where he is forced to work and treated brutally. A teacher notices his musical gift, but Max's troubles are just beginning.

Coolidge Corner Theatre, 290 Harvard St, Brookline :: Sunday, February 24 @ 11 am :: $10; $7 members and seniors :: 617.734.2501 or coolidge.org