If you want to know what the ultimately synthetic box-office film would look like, then try this weepie.

The pathos of little children caught in the agony of war is always a solid staple of sentiment on the screen. It has been well and touchingly presented in any number of films. And it is offered again with deep compassion in "Conspiracy of Hearts" ...

A highly accomplished tearjerker from Britain, and worth seeing for its warmth of feeling - even though you are aware all along that you are being "worked on" by a team of professional sentimentalists.

It's the sort of film where in a crisis nuns roll their eyes skywards and slowly murmur, with clasped hands, things like : 'Sweet Jesus, have mercy.'