We have a tradition at my school that I just love: each Wednesday for the last month of school, a colleague of mine shows international children's films to our students. These films are usually radically different from anything most of the kids have seen before; some of them are in black & white, some of them are subtitled, one was in Portuguese with no subtitles, so the kids had to figure out what was going on.Today's film was the 1956 French classic The Red Balloon. The kids were squirmy for the first few minutes, but then they were captivated. It really is a wonderful movie, deserving of all the accolades it has received.
I had seen it many times before. Each of my own kids went through a period of time when it was a favorite. Today, however, I saw it through a new lens, perhaps because I am reading the book Suite Francaise, which was written by a French woman in 1942 during the Nazi occupation. 1956 was not so long after the end of the war, and Paris looks pretty war-weary. The war also would explain why Pascal, the hero, lives with an elderly woman (his grandmother, presumably) as well as the large gang of ruffian street-boys who ultimately pop the red balloon.
It made me kind of sad too, because the Paris it depicted is long gone. I first visited Europe when I was 9, in 1968, and that Europe is long gone too.
Anyway, if you have not seen The Red Balloon, it is way more than just a sweet children's movie. Check it out sometime.
6 comments:
I have not seen this film but I'm adding it to my list. What a nice tradition for the students.
Has the Barrymore ever shown movies? (I mean as the Barrymore; I know it used to be a movie house... right?) Wouldn't that be great if they'd show international and classic and just good movies a couple times a week? No one I know wants good movies at 8am like me, but that would be cool too.
Wow, that brings back great memories! Certain scenes come back to me now -- like when the boys are pelting the balloon with French pebbles. I'm so happy that your kids saw it.
Oops, that may have been an inappropriately flippant comment for a Nazis-in-Paris post. Pretend it's tacked on to the earlier film society ones, okay? Thanks.
P.S. Suzy, have you read Simone de Beauvoir? I'm thinking of "The Mandarins." I need to reread it.
I meant my earlier comment, of course, not the PP's.
trtrtrtr ... No, I have read no Simone de Beauvoir. How is that possible when I went to City School and took Women's Studies courses at the UW?
The only films The Barrymore shows are for kids one day during spring break. It would be cool if they ran movies too. I think there is a niche on the east side, seeing as how Bob Redford snubbed us. (Not that I'm complaining.)
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