Le Ballon Rouge

[greatbear]

Several days ago while perusing my friends list here on LJ I happened upon an entry that mentioned, among other things, seeing a certain movie while in elementary school entitled The Red Balloon. I have no idea if this is still the case these days, but back in the prehistoric epoch of my early youth, The Red Balloon, a French film, was de rigueur cinema at Savage Elementary School each year, apparently since the film won an award for top educational film in '68, right at the meat of my primary school life. As the years went on, the movie became a fond memory, as well as a cautionary tale I could relate to. The movie is set in Paris, in the mid-50s. A young boy finds a big red balloon tangled in a streetlamp, frees it, and brings it home with him while coming home from school. His mother, for unknown reasons, does not allow the boy to keep the balloon in the house, and subsequently, releases it though an open window. It is then that the "magic" begins. The boy's red balloon becomes a fun part of his life, as well as a troublesome companion in the eyes of others. The boy and his balloon become a target for neighborhood bullies as well, this plays out predictably, but with a surprising conclusion.

I had not seen this film in decades, and pretty much forgotten about it. Having my memories jostled by the LJ post, I dove into the trusty intarwebs to find it, and voila, found a complete copy exactly as I had remembered it from my early youth. I've presented it here in three parts. If any of you remember this movie, let me know in the comments your take on it.

This makes me feel old to see it for some reason. Maybe it's because there are 40+ year old memories being dusted off, I don't know. Paris in the mid-50s looks like a total dump! And back then, both in the film and in my youth, there seemed to be no problems in letting kids travel alone or with friends practically for miles in order to go to school, visit people or just play. Try allowing your child to have such freedom and responsibilities these days and you'd be hauled in to court by child protective services. Children today require constant supervision, and I don't think this has turned out to be a good idea over time. Kids growing up and entering the real world of the workforce are ill equipped to think and perform on their own in many cases. I became highly independent and very responsible at a very young age, and it has only worked to my advantage as the years went on. I wonder how a majority of youth today living with "helicopter parents" are able to become fully functional, independent beings. Jeff has to constantly deal with 20-somethings' parents calling into the workplace to say their offspring won't be in that day for whatever reason.

Lastly, the bullies. Yes, bullies are a sad part of life, and anyone in tune with the last few years worth of news reports know that it has reached critical proportions and steps are (too) slowly being taken to address these problems. The issues are even greater for LGBT youth, yet there are groups claiming god-given rights to be allowed to continue harassing people. I was "different" in whatever ways during my early school years, and I had to deal with bullies and teacher cohorts on a constant basis. Seeing now that most of those bullies of the past amounted to mediocre adults at best does give me a little sense of schadenfreude, but does not erase the bad memories of their influence. I might not have had a balloon companion like the boy in this movie had, but I did have some things destroyed by bullying kids that were dear to me. That's in the past, and the past is an excellent teacher.

I hope you enjoyed this movie.

Comments

[dendren.livejournal.com]

oooooh, I look forward to watching this when I get home. I totally remember watching this movie when I was in elementary school. I remember that it was a huge deal that they were able to get a copy for us to see and had a big assembly for all to watch it LOL

[mister-don.livejournal.com]

Although I might not have thought so during the incessant presentations during my elementary and junior high years, covering the late 50s and early 60s, I actually have the fondest of memories of the film: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_Balloon

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I always enjoyed seeing the movie from the first time on, it was always a treat in my book. Looking at the WP article, it explains why so much of the scenery looked run down, and that most of what is shown in the film does not exist today. It served as the perfect backdrop for the balloon and its magic, though.

My only qualms about seeing the film back in the day were the few kids cheering on the bullies.

[cpj.livejournal.com]

I saw it at school several different times, probably up until the 4th grade.

I just assumed that the licensing costs were really cheap or something. Or that it was a pretty simple film since there's almost no dialogue whatsoever.

[dan4behr.livejournal.com]

I think I remember seeing it twice. First, when I might've still been in Elementary school. I think we saw this and another black and white film (might've been something with Maurice Chevalier) and show & telling about life in other countries - both the good and the bad
I definitely remember seeing it later, probably about 7th grade. It was part of my first year French class where the teacher showed us a lot of French films as a part of some kind of cultural awareness thing.
I didn't really remember the bullying part though...

[franklanguage.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for posting this; I was a kid in the 60s and probably first saw this when I was 5 or 6. I too had issues with being picked on by kids, and developed my own coping strategies because of it.

I recall reading a black-and-white picture book of the story, and I must have seen the film a few times on TV over the years. Interestingly, my main concern with this viewing was how many balloons it must have taken in the filming!

And Paris in the 50s does look kind of slummy—kind of like New York in the 80s. And WE LIKED IT THAT WAY; WE LOVED IT! [Edit: If you read the Wikipedia article, you know the neighborhood this was filmed in was about to be demolished, much like the Hell's Kitchen buildings West Side Story was filmed in.]

[cop4cbt.livejournal.com]

I loved this movie. I always thought it was sad that all the other kids had to lose their balloons at the end so he could fly away. Don't they get to fly away too?

[bitterlawngnome.livejournal.com]

it never occurred to me but I wonder if one was supposed to think of this when hearing 99 Luftballons?

[kjvbear.livejournal.com]

I remember this very well, I saw it in school sometime in the 60's. Great movie, but it always made me very sad when the bullies "killed" his balloon. I was bullied heavily in grammar school and it hit too close to home for me. Thank you for reminding me of this, it does have a great message.

[bearwad.livejournal.com]

alas...we were denied the red balloon.