Forbidden Games (1952)

Forbidden Games. Boy, those French love making films about kids. But, seriously, I dug Forbidden Games. Not 400 Blows dug, but dug it nonetheless.

Actually, the film's kind of strange. I thought it would be an account of the childrens' struggle to survive during the war. But, it's actually more about them forming a bond and growing together. In fact, the film's most telling moment is the very end. Paulette is kept at the Red Cross and she's forced to confront the fact that her parents are gone. She looks around and sees nothing but children crying and dealing with emotional pain. It's then that you realize her stay with Michel has been a reprieve. It's her own way of dealing with her loss, as a child. And, it's debatable as to whether she was better off with Michel, enjoying her childhood or actually dealing with her loss. Clement's film is pretty sentimental, so it's obvious his feelings lie more with Michel, but it leaves the final decision up to the viewer.

It does a good job of showing childhood. Her parents have just died, but Paulette cares more about toting around her dead puppy, for whatever reason. It takes Michel to finally convince her to let go. Also, there are the childish infatuations and misunderstandings. They steal all the crosses they can find, to give their dead animals a better afterlife. Their symbolism to the church doesn't matter at all, they just want to build their perfect vision of a graveyard. Ideas like this are so great and so universal that it's hard to imagine that they haven't really been exploited heavily throughout the history of cinema. Well, at least not yet.