The making of the film involved the teachers and students of social communication and some kids from the Don Bosco Kep Sun Children program in a production that involves acting training, theological reflections and environment care and sustainability. Using the minimum resources and exploring the talents of the youth, the production team studied the deep meaning of the theology of Saint John Bosco, especially the belief in God the Creator, Jesus the Good Shepherd and the role of Virgin Mary as a guiding and loving mother.

The story happens the day after the dream. Johnny Bosco woke in the room of his brothers, in a Cambodian rural house and along the day, he will recall in three moments the strange vision he got the night before. There was a special care to portray Antony Bosco, his older brother, as a loving brother, worrying for the care of his family, still being opposed to the dreams of his younger brother. Antony, out of his drama of being an orphan of father and mother, brings a big responsibility over his shoulders, but he is also entrapped in an understandable conception of life such as the poor cannot study and you should accept that reality without complaining, working hard to get the bread it is needed.

In the night after the dream, the boy is having dinner with his family, when he finished recounting the strange dream. He tried to stop some fighting boys, but their violence hit him too. His initial reaction is to fight them back, when they are interrupted by the burning bush (Exodus 3) and an unknown shepherd comes out of it. The other boys run in fear, but Johnny stands in courage and faces him. The burning bush is a sign of God the Creator, manifesting his being to those who do not know God yet, as Moses would ask: “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up” (Ex. 3: 3). The Jesus as seen by Johnny is, undoubtedly, the Good Shepherd of John 10, as both Johnny and Jesus are dressed in the traditional Cambodian shepherd. The introduction of this theological point is prepared with Jonny learning how to read in the 10th chapter of the Gospel of John.

Jesus shows the teacher he is giving to Johnny and points up to the sky, where the boy looks up, seeing the Marian vision of Garabandal, an enriched theological vision where Virgin Mary sent messages to the priests in Mount Garabandal in Spain, as she said on October 18, 1961: “We must make many sacrifices, perform much penance, and visit the Blessed Sacrament frequently. But first, we must lead good lives.” The idea to connect the dream of Saint John Bosco to a Marian apparition is to raise the importance of the dream to the level of an apparition. This 9 years old Piedmontese boy got actually a Marian apparition, even if such apparition has not a physical place such as Garabandal, Fatima or Tepeyac, but in the sacrosanctum of his own heart in a dream, like it happened to many other biblical personalities. In fact, Joseph Bosco, accusing Johnny of laziness, said: “Here we have, here the dreamer, sleeping while we work” (Genesis 37: 19).

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