A Little Princess

Sara Crewe (Liesel Matthews) is the sweet, kind and caring daughter of Captain Richard Crewe (Liam Cunningham), a wealthy aristocrat living in India. Sara's mother died along with her unborn daughter when she was very young, and she has to leave her beloved childhood home and friends when her father volunteers to fight for the British as an officer in World War I. Captain Crewe enrolls Sara at a girls' boarding school in New York, and instructs the perfidious headmistress Miss Maria Minchin (Eleanor Bron) to spare no expense making sure his daughter will be comfortable while he is away. He has reserved her the school's largest suite, and gives Sara a special locket of her mother's picture, and a French doll named Emily, telling her that if she wants to talk to him, just speak to Emily and he will hear it. Though she finds the strict rules and Miss Minchin's harsh attitude stifling, Sara becomes popular among the girls, including the scullery maid Becky (Vanessa Lee Chester), for her kindness and strong sense of imagination. She writes constant letters to her father, which are a great source of happiness for him on the battlefield.