7/23/15
3/4
The 400 Blows was alright. At least it was valuable, as it usually is, seeing the world from a child's perspective, and the French setting also helped in making this a decent experience. I'm not sure what the aim of this film was, or whether it's just a chronicle. To me, the only thing to pull from it besides a simple enjoyment of immersion in French culture is a valuation of the juvenile state of mind. Where on the spectrum between Antoine and his parents is it most human to lie? The chances indicate that it's most true to our nature and generous to ourselves to be more on the side of Antoine's mindset, who values pure adventure and moment-by-moment endorphin-induction. But, as Truffaut seems to indicate, with such amorality is an inappropriate way to live. It's not a matter of "responsibility", as that term is only a product of modern society; rather, it is an essential question whether one cares truly about anything. It is possible that Antoine did not, and he was punished for his lack of conviction to anything by having his life partially taken from him.
However, it seems clear to me that the degree to which adults abandon childhood is vastly detrimental to their essential being. Without question I'd rather be Antoine than his parents or teachers, because the living situation hardly matters when one has a certain mindset. Antoine in a juvenile military camp is more free than the capitalistic adults in his life. I suppose capitalism itself is enslaving, not to mention the pressures of its implications around society.
The 400 Blows didn't cross me as a great film. It was a fine tale of adolescence, the kind of which nobody in today's society is deprived. I liked the child-first-person and the French language and setting. Most important is this film's role in my life as an entrance into a new genre. I like the idea of the New Wave... while this particular film underwhelmed, I can see a nice potential. 90 minute French films.... not a bad basis.
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