The 400 Blows

Les quatre cents coups is a French drama from 1959 about a misunderstood boy who becomes distanced from his parents and leaves them for a life of freedom and petty crime. The fact that it was French does not stand out in my mind and that I think is a sign that this was a good visual film. What fascinated me most was that our protagonist did not have a ‘goal’ as such and yet we were rooting for him from the start. I think this was mainly due to the character being at that age of early adolescence when, as we know from our own experience, understanding life and just getting by is enough of a goal in itself. This was not the most original and spectacular film ever made and yet I found it touching and engaging; 'sweet' is what I want to call it! It felt like a real story about a real person and it was completely non-Hollywood. It is good for me to see more European cinema, since most of the films I am bombarded with are generic, overblown and American. There is another side to filmmaking which is well worth learning about and The 400 Blows was an excellent example of this.