Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Seraherrera The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

Freeman This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

paulr03 The story has been presented by other reviewers but I have a little different take. The acting and story were great and Foster gives an outstanding performer. What bothers me is, as a resident the area I have many complaints. Before getting into the factual problems let's cut to the main problem which is government intervention. I know several 'mountain folk' who live in the mountains just outside Robbinsville who live 100% off the land. No electric, water in house, food, etc. They are perfectly happy and Nell was more that capable to take care of herself. The government destroyed her life! Second, the City of Robbinsville is horribly represented with the pool hall scene! There is no way she would have treated like that from anyone in that lovely town! The people of the town and the surrounding counties were horrified!

duckfjord Nell is woman who's been brought up in the forest. The only people she knew were her mother and twin sister who passed away. They lived together in a cottage. On some scene in this movie, Nell has braided hair, she can also work with the woods outside the house, she wears a cloth just like a normal women. How come she has character just like DNS? Even the dumb indigenous people living in the isolate jungle they don't act like down syndrome. I know this because I have been stayed in Thailand, and there was a news on TV. program about a girl who's her parents have antisocial attitude, they brought daughter to live in the jungle. this girl has never seen the car and people still this she can talk properly, and when the TV program brought her to the city. yes, she scared of a lot of things, but her action isn't weired like Nell on this film. because she isn't the down syndrome. we go back to the film Nell, the character Nell has on this film is not supposed to be normal character for normal human, it just a character of someone who sick, unrealistic movie plot, plus too much unnecessary scenes.

tieman64 Directed by the oft underrated Michael Apted, "Nell" stars Jodie Foster as Nell, a young woman raised in an isolated cabin by an elderly woman with a severe speech impediment. Emotionally and intellectually arrested, Nell is cared for by doctors Lovell and Olsen (Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson), a pair of well-meaning academics."Nell's" first three quarters are mostly excellent. Pleasantly low key, atmospheric and shot in the gorgeous woodlands of North Carolina, the film is at its best when Lovell and Olsen take on the rolls of detectives and cryptographers, both trying to decipher Nell's strange speech patterns.Unfortunately Apted's film completely collapses in its final act. Cardboard villains, a silly "jail break" and a horrendous monologue in a courtroom, completely derail what was initially a very original picture. The film's philosophy – that Nell is "teaching" Lovell and Olsen rather than the other way around – is likewise cringe-worthy. It's a shame, because until these final moments, "Nell" was rather unique.Incidentally, "Nell" echoes a number of Apted's other works. His "Up" series was likewise preoccupied with mapping the social development of human beings, his "Coal Miner's Daughter" and "Gorillas in the Mist" likewise found young women isolated in strange woodlands, his "Enigma" revolved around cryptography and his "Thunderheart" and "Amazing Grace" hinged on rehabilitating the socially marginalised. In "Nell", our young outcast is nursed back into the fold, but ultimately rejects "modernity". She remains in the forests of North Carolina, a decision which Apted tries desperately to attach profound significance to.7.9/10 - See Francois Truffaut's "The Wild Child".

Dale Haufrect The 1994 film, "Nell", is an acting triumph for Jodie Foster. The screenplay is by William Nicholson and it was adapted from the remarkable play by Mark Hadley. Foster grows up as a Yeti in a remote forest having been raised by her mother who suffered from a speech disorder or aphasia after running to the woods escaping the rapist who had attacked her. "Nell" then grows to adulthood with little to say in favor of men, and little speech to begin with anyway. Modern society attempts to "treat" her, but Liam Neesam is able to convince the doctors to allow her some space for growing room and a period of adjustment in order to make a more gradual adjustment to society. This film is compelling from the moment it begins and holds ones attention to the very end. It is deserving of much praise for handling a delicate subject with loving care and empathy that permeates the film. The cinematography is overwhelming and makes one jealous of Nell's environment. It is a very good rent now on DVD and well worth the time involved. Neesam's portrayal of a family physician turned naturalist is equally as compelling as is that of Foster making for a very satisfying picture.