‘The Red Balloon’ still simple magic
Published 11:48 am Wednesday, November 21, 2007
The sight of a perfect red balloon wafting down the streets and across the roofs of Paris was a touchstone image for a couple of generations of schoolkids. At one point or another, it seems most of us saw “The Red Balloon” in a cafeteria or church basement, making its magic from a beat-up 16 millimeter projector set up in the back of the room.
Whoever got the idea to show “The Red Balloon” in U.S. grade schools did an inspired thing. The movie’s pure, simple story provides a model for any kid’s unarticulated urges toward individuality, escape and beauty.
“The Red Balloon” has recently been restored in all its 34-minute glory, and is being released with another short film by the same director. This is a wonderful throwback to a moment in film history, and a great way to introduce these films to another generation of kids. And adults.
Made in 1956 by director Albert Lamorisse, “The Red Balloon” was beloved from its first appearance. Despite its brevity, it won a top prize at the Cannes Film Festival and actually won an Oscar (for best screenplay, the only time a short film has won that award).
There’s almost no dialogue, so the screenplay here is the idea of the movie. A little boy (the director’s son, Pascal) steps outside his home one day to discover that a large red balloon is waiting for him. The balloon follows him around like a pet — but the “friendship” leads to resentment amongst others.
In the restored print, the sharpness of the Paris neighborhood comes vividly to life, but as a living space, not as a postcard. And, wow, that balloon is really red. Redder even than your schoolhouse memory.
The other film, which will be shown first in the program, is “White Mane,” made by Lamorisse in 1953. It’s a 40-minute tale about a wild horse and the boy who befriends him, set in La Camargue, a region of desert and marsh in the south of France.
Beautifully shot in black and white, it ends, like “The Red Balloon,” on a soaring note of release. Once again there is minimal dialogue, with translation and narration provided by Peter Strauss.
Lamorisse continued to make films in the 1960s, but died at age 48 in a helicopter accident while shooting a film in Tehran. He had actually invented a system of shooting film without vibrations from a helicopter (and by the way, he invented the board game “Risk,” too). How haunting that the man who envisioned soaring over the rooftops should die in pursuit of the perfect aerial shot.
