The Red Balloon
French, Animated 1956
34 minutes
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048980/
The movie opens with a little boy around eight going to school. On the way he passes by a large red balloon tied to a lamppost. Presumably, this balloon belongs to the people who live in the apartment the lamppost is connected to.
They are not watching right this minute, so the balloon is up for grabs. He shimmies up the post and unties the balloon and climbs down, showing poor hygiene by putting the dirty rope between his teeth.
He walks down the sidewalk, bothering other people who have to deal with this balloon swinging side to side in the breeze. The boy is not allowed on the trolley because of the large balloon. The greedy boy keeps the balloon and runs to school.
The town the boy is in is not as bleak as, say Russia in “Winged Migration,” but is very colorless.
At school he hands off the balloon to the groundskeeper, it is not as if the guy has anything else to do is it? The Evil Headmaster makes a skull-and-cross-bones note next to the boy’s name for being late.
After school is bullies a guy in the street to have him and the balloon under the guy’s umbrella. Um, the Roman Legion on horseback goes by? What kinds of cops wear that?
Trains are cool! Even if you get a face full of soot!
At home Grandma throws the balloon out the window.
Due to poor French manufacturing the balloon stays level instead of floating upwards. The boy pulls the balloon inside.
The apartment building is very bleak.
What follows is a supernatural tale of a boy treating his balloon as if it is a pet and the balloon responding in kind. Together, the two face challenges presented by the headmaster, the Church, and bullies.
Parents should be warned that the balloon faces violence at the hands of bullies. Sensitive members of the family will be moved to tears.
Leave a comment