You see a wonderful film that you think your young friend would love. Your sharing with them in the past has been a mixed bag, but mostly your recommendations have been met with gratitude. But your friend is an adult now, and looks at you no longer as a mentor, and so resents your recommendations. And the more you ask them whether they have seen your recommendation, the more hostile they get. "I'll get to it! Lay off!"
This is of course very disappointing, as all you wanted to do was share a bit of media that you thought they would like and then you could enjoy it together.
Thus is The White Balloon. It is the current joy of my life.
I'm working my way through 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, by Steven Jay Schneider, and so far, the movies that I've seen based on his recommendations have been disappointing. This is an unfair characterization on my part for three reasons:
1) I've already seen 420 of the movies on his list. That means that he and I have already agreed on almost half of the selections. Since I've been playing catch-up and I've only seen what's available on YouTube so far, it seems like I've seen a lot of "important" (look out for that word) or "experimental" (avoid) films, which are not very much fun to watch.
2) I'm comparing it to my first 1000+ book, 1000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die. That book changed my life for the better, because it exposed me to 820 recordings I'd never heard before (I thought I gave equal time to movies and music, but apparently, I've seen a lot more good movies.) The primary difference is in focus - Tom Moon wrote each entry in his book, personally gathered all the information from the various people he'd interviewed over the years, and had sections on "if you like this, you might like this as well." The Movie book has 77 different contributors who I'm sure have their own favorite "important" and "experimental" films to offer. I've seen some truly unwatchable films. I'll be writing on them later...But for now, I have one that is not boring or unwatchable. It's Jafar Panahi's The White Balloon. and if for not other reason, I'm glad I have the book because of it.
Here's the plot:
Razieh wants a fat goldfish for the Iranian New Years celebration instead of the skinny ones in her family's pond at home, because the fat fish looks like it's dancing when it swims.
That's it. It's a story of a girl trying to buy a gold fish.
The story is set in real time, so it starts about 90 minutes before the Iranian New Year, and we follow Razieh as she walks home with her mom, to begging her mom for money for the fish, and then follow her to the fish store so she can purchase her dream fish.
Doesn't sound like much, huh? Well I finally got some folks to watch it this week, and I'm happy to say I'm not crazy - it's an intensely riveting film.
I slag a lot on Steven Spielberg movies, primarily because he is a master at manipulating your emotions. A thousand people die in Schindler's List, but we only care about the one little girl in red. That's an example.
As we follow Razieh though, she finds herself in real situations, and you can honestly say that by the end of this film, you are walking in her shoes, you care about her, you are happy when she's happy, you're frightened and scared when she's frightened and scared.
I came to a realization, too, about Hollywood. I think there's probably a subset of films called "Children in Peril." Think of Jumanji, Aliens, Ransom, Adventures in Babysitting, The Good Son, The Shining, Goonies, The Incredibles, Home Alone, Terminator 2, Jurassic Park, 8 mm, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, and the mother of all Child Peril movies, The Exorcist.
The reason so many filmmakers use kids in situations like this is because, face it, when the adults in Jurassic Park die, we cheer; when "innocent" little kids are in peril, we scream. Spielberg knows that Peril x Kids = $$$.
But here's the genius of The White Balloon. We forget that peril to a seven year old is not being able to get enough money to buy a pretty gold fish. Or having strange adults not understand how important it is to tell the truth, to be honest, to not steal, to not try to get more than something is worth. We forget that losing something is terrifying, and it doesn't have to be your life or our brother or your home. It can be $5.
The genius of this movie is that we see the world through the eyes of Razieh, who sees adults who at first seem kind of scary and mean, but who ultimately help her in her quest for a pretty gold fish. Some adults try to cheat her, some make her cry, some make her smile, some take pity, others don't. One young man gives our stomachs a turn, but a parent's good lessons are recalled, thanks to her ally, Ali, her brother. Razieh said one of the simplest and most beautiful sentences of all: "I wanted to see what was not good for me." Oh that we had that cleansing level of self-awareness and shame.
WARNING: After watching this film, you will have a strong inclination to adopt an Iranian girl. I'm not saying you shouldn't but I will say you've been warned.
I've started a list of free films available on YouTube, both talkies and silent movies.
As part of my writing project, I worked on this one twice; I've re-written the original, but I'm still working in 30 minute bites.
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