The Wild Child
by Francois Truffaut
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DVD details
Actor: Annie Miller, Francois Truffaut, Franoise Seigner, Jean Dast, Jean-Pierre CargolDirector: Francois Truffaut
Brand: TRUFFAUT,FRANCOIS
Writer: Francois Truffaut
Writer: Jean Gruault
Writer: Jean Itard
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Letterboxed, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 83 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-07-24
Audience Rating: G (General Audience)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
DVD Reviews of The Wild Child
DVD Review: Wild child - subdued movie.
Summary: 4 Stars
The Wild Child has such a mild and subdued tone overall that at times it seems to muffle even the chaotic screeches and chimp-like antics of the wild boy, Victor. Vivaldi's airy refined baroque harmonies imbue the story with the quaint elegance of an old-fashioned miniature painting. Even though the movie was filmed in black and white, the pastoral scenes suggest a world of vibrant color, but a very domesticated one. Truffaut's portrayal of Dr. Itard, the boy's teacher is a paragon of cultured respectability and good intentions. So is that of Madame Guerin, the doctor's housekeeper, who becomes Victor's surrogate mother. This wild child who was found naked in a forest, abandoned at an early age, could neither speak nor focus his attention any more than an animal. Against this wildness was brought to bear the genteel but insistent demand of Dr. Itard that Victor learn to function according to the civilized standards of France,circa 1799. Needless to say, this engendered a conflict between the good doctor and his young charge. But even this rebellion amongst broken dishes and bitten hands still seems somewhat restrained from the out-and-out total war that you might expect from such a confrontation. And there is no indication given of how the doctor and his housekeeper managed with getting Victor housebroken. The point I'm trying to make is that this seems to be a somewhat idealized account of a true story that would probably have been a little messier in reality. But when Truffaut decided to make this movie, he was no doubt impelled by a motive other than just creating a factual documentary. Its a good exploration of what makes us human. This story makes it clear that the determining factor is our early and continuous association with others of our kind. Humanity is not instinctual but must be passed on through the generations by instruction and example. And although civilization is not perfect(shown by the persecution of Victor by other more normal children)if we are isolated from it, we cannot rise above the level of animals. Still, Victor retains a wistful longing for the open wild, and one of the more memorable ,less subdued scenes is of Victor swaying hypnotically on the doctor's lawn and seemingly worshiping the moon. So, civilization comes at the cost of forfeiting some of the wild, spontaneous joy of an untamed existence. The Wild Child, though it seems a trifle remote because of its refined style, is a very well-intentioned film and is refreshingly free of the crassness and vulgarity that seem to be obligatory in today's Hollywood fare.
Description of The Wild Child
Acclaimed OscarÂ(r)-nominated* director François Truffaut (Small Change, Day for Night) has created an absorbing (Leonard Maltin) film about the true-life tale of a young boy found living alone in the woods of France in the 1700s. Using actual journal entries, Truffaut not only directed and co-wrote the script with Jean Gruault, but also starred as the unflappable Doctor Jean-Marc-Gaspard Itard, the visionary who takes on the incredible task of civilizing The Wild Child. At The National Institute for the Deaf and Dumb in Paris, a barely clothed and dirty young boy is admitted. Found in a forest, the child is unable to speak, communicate or function in society. Christened Victor by the hospital staff, his case is taken up by Doctor Itard (Truffaut),a lone physician who has an unyielding dedication to re-integrating the lad into society. But the road to tame the beast is a rocky one and Itard will have to work tirelessly to teach Victor how to re-claim his place in the world even if it means staking his reputation on it! *1974: Dayfor NightFrançois Truffaut's fascinating 1969 film, based on a real-life, 18th-century behavioral scientist's efforts to turn a feral boy into a civilized specimen, is an ingenious and poignant experience. In a piece of resonant casting that immediately turns this story into an echo of the creative process, Truffaut himself plays Dr. Itard, a specialist in the teaching of the deaf. Itard takes in a young lad (Jean-Pierre Cargol) found to have been living like an animal in the woods all his life. In the spirit of social experiment, Itard uses rewards and punishments to retool the boy's very existence into something that will impress the world. Beautifully photographed in black and white and making evocative use of such charmingly antiquated filmmaking methods as the iris shot, The Wild Child has a semidocumentary form that barely veils Truffaut's confessional slant. What does it mean to turn the raw material of life into a monument to one's own experience and bias? The question has all sorts of intriguing reverberations when one considers that Truffaut's own wild childhood was rescued by love of the cinema and that a degree of verisimilitude factors into his films starring Jean-Pierre Leaud--the troubled lad who grew up in Truffaut's work from The 400 Blows onward. (The Wild Child is dedicated to Leaud.) --Tom Keogh
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