We rarely watch movies, but something about this one drew us in, and a few nights ago we sat down to watch ‘Le renard et l’enfant’, a French film by filmmaker Luc Jacquet, best known for ‘March of the Penguins’. We really weren’t sure what to expect, but in moments we were enchanted with the single human actor, who plays a young girl with an obvious love of nature.
Her encounter with a fox opens up an exploration of the natural world, and the film takes you on a journey into a land that seems like a fairy tale when you’re sitting in front of the television screen. For all of us who regularly venture out into natural places, however, we’ll recognize an accessible and very real world that she’s discovering — a world of beauty, excitement, wonder, and occasional danger.
Taking us along on her journey, we get to feel the impact of humankind on a rather pristine natural environment. Most significantly, the film shows how our human minds can shape the natural world around us, turning beauty into fear, and fear into beauty. And in the end, the film delivers a poignant message about the nature of love.
This is a movie Rebecca and I might actually purchase, not only for its story, but for the incredible footage of foxes and the natural world. It took our breath away again and again. It is a great family film, but if you’re a grown-up you have to watch the movie with an open heart, because it isn’t necessarily geared for an adult audience. Personally, we found ourselves enchanted from start to finish.
Posted on August 27th, 2009 by Kenton and Rebecca
Filed under: Uncategorized
Just put it on my netflix list. I’m excited to watch it with my kids!
I’m with Shawna—adding it to Netflix as we speak, right to the top of the list. I can’t wait to watch it. I loved March of the Penguins.
Hi Shawna! Glad you’re going to watch it! We suppose that we should qualify our review by saying that there are some reviewers who have said that a few scenes might be too frightening for younger children, but we think that children who have been out and seen some of nature’s workings shouldn’t be too afraid, especially with parents present. Rebecca says that she watched ‘Jaws’ at too young an age, and has been afraid of sharks ever since, but that she can’t imagine this leaving any lasting fears, since all of the young girl’s fears are met and explored.
Wolves also make an appearance in the film, and we’re usually quite defensive about how wolves are portrayed, but this scene might provide an opportunity to talk about different views of wolves in different times and lands. In Europe, there are fascinating historical accounts (perhaps not children’s stuff), one of the most ferocious and mysterious of which is the story of the Beast of Gevaudan. Here in North America, of course, most experts assert that there has never been a death of a human by healthy wolves (indeed, it’s the event of a lifetime if you’re lucky enough to see one in the wild!). The only exception to this assertion is the story of a young man who was named (this is for real) Kenton, who was killed in Canada, we believe, a couple of years back. From what we can tell, it wasn’t conclusive whether Kenton was attacked by wolves or by a bear, but you can learn more if you check Google. Apologies for getting so ‘off on a tangent’, but we had forgotten to address the wolf scene, which without proper context might encourage children to think of wolves in a negative light.
MObugs41,
We hope you enjoy it! We sat completely spellbound though many scenes, wondering — how DID they get those shots???
This movie arrived via Netflix yesterday, we watched it as a family last night. It was a hit with everyone, even my 19 year old son liked it!
I laughed, cried and thoroughly enjoyed the movie, especially the chicken leg on a string scene! I laughed til I cried. Thank you so much for recommending a movie that would have probably gone unnoticed by me if you hadn’t.
Dear MObugs41,
We’re so glad to hear this! We’ve been wondering what you would think of it, and it was wonderful to hear that the whole family enjoyed it. It’s definitely a movie that we wish more people could see. =)