To be quite frank, saying anything critical about Alejandro Gomez Monteverde's sweet little film "Bella" would be the functional equivalent of throwing stones at a morning dove, something I stopped doing as a little boy. Let me explain.

When I was a 6-year-old boy growing up in Batesville, Indiana, I noticed from my home older kids throwing rocks at some birds. As I went outside, I tragically joined them because I thought it looked cool. Unfortunately, the birds were morning doves, and I proceeded to hit one of them.

As it tried to fly away, it kept falling to the ground. It became immediately apparent that I had broken its wing. Realizing that, I broke down in tears and ran inside the house where my mother comforted me.

When I proceeded to tell her what had happened, she took me in her arms, and said, "Bobby, what did you expect would happen?" "There is no reason for you to ever to try and harm one of God's living things." Obviously, she was right, and I have never intentionally harmed a living thing since.

"Bella" as a movie is the metaphorical equivalent of a morning dove. While not spectacular in and of itself, it is meaningful enough that you don't want to harm it in any fashion.

With the exception of the unfortunate time leap at the end, a description of which would ruin the film for you, it is a movie that largely takes place over a two-day period in New York City. An upscale Hispanic restaurant run by two brothers is completely disrupted by the firing of a waitress who unbeknownst to them is pregnant. What follows is a feel good story about family and redemption.

While one of the strengths of this movie is its modesty, there are several powerful moments. The most riveting concerns one of the brothers, a chef (Eduardo Verastegui) who is still reeling from the after shock of a fatal car accident years before, as he provides comfort, guidance and hope to the pregnant waitress (Tammy Blanchard).

Their scenes together are endearing and moving, particularly when Verastegui describes his car accident that resulted in the death of little girl and his subsequent incarceration. That scene, told by way of flashbacks, is unforgettably emotional.

Finally, it should be noted that "Bella" won the Grand Prize Award for Best Dramatic Feature at this year's Heartland Film Festival. While this will probably sound like complete heresy coming from a movie fan here in Indianapolis, such an award epitomizes what I find so maddeningly wonderful yet frustrating about the Heartland Film Awards.

Simply put, these types of movies consistently fall short of cinematic greatness. There's just a little too much sugar in the coffee. While I admire everything that Heartland stands for, the simple fact is that the message of a recognized movie more often than not trumps the overall quality of the movie itself.

As charming as "Bella" is, it conveniently dodged the emotional complexities that would have confronted Ms. Blanchard's waitress as she wrestled with carrying her child to full term. Had it done so, the film would have been far grittier and compelling, whether it stuck with its fairytale ending or not.