Written by: JBR
Kafka said that the world has shrunk into a small office space. The lot of children is even worse. The ambition of parents and authoritarian attitude of schools have made schools a jail for children. Many films have been made about the drastic effect on the world of children by the elders and society around them. A notable film with this background is 'The 400 Blows' by French director Francois Truffaut.
Truffaut was born in 1932 in Paris, France. Even though his mother's second husband adopted him as his own son, he grew up in his grandmother's house. Truffaut was not interested in studies or going to school. After having changed many schools, Truffaut finally stopped going to school altogether when he was 14.
More than school, Truffaut was interested in films. As his first attempt to enter the world of films, he started a film association when he was 16.
One can say that the thing that had most influence on French cinema was the French paper Cahiers du Cinema. The reviews and debates that were featured in this had a great impact on French cinema. The new wave cinema of the later 50s that made its effect felt around the world owes quite a lot to this paper and its articles.
From 1951 when Cahiers du Cinema started to be published, Francois Truffaut started writing film reviews for it. His reviews and articles had a great impact on French cinema. In 1959, he directed his first film 'The 400 Blows.'
This film is about a young boy Antoine, whose mother left early in the day for work and returned home late at night. So Antoine's father presents Antoine in front of his mother and fights with her demanding, "Because you come home so late at night, do I have to be mother and father to him?" In reality, he is not Antoine's biological father. He is the second husband of Antoine's mother. If Antoine's home is an unhappy place, his school situation is even worse and repressive and full of punishment.
Growing up in such an environment makes Antoine a liar from a young age. He learns to steal. He leaves home and wanders the streets for days on end. He is ultimately put in a detention centre for delinquents.
In this day and age when both parents go out to work, the place parents occupy in a child's life is empty. Parents attempt to fill that space with presents or punishments. This is one way of rejection and evokes feelings of rebellion in children.
One morning, Antoine rushes to school. On the way, he meets his friend René, who tells him, "We are already late for school. Do you think the teacher is going to let us in?" and then takes him to a cinema theatre.
In another incident when he is late for school, Antoine is afraid he would be punished by the teacher and fibs that his mother has passed away. The lie comes to light. His father slaps him and promises to deal with him after he returns from school. For the first time, Antoine does not go home and sleeps on the streets at night.
Instead of setting right a person, in most cases punishments promote more rebellious behavior and more crimes and misdeeds. Neither parents nor school authorities pay heed to a child's world and with their umpteen punishments, they actually set children on the wrong path.
When Antoine does not return home, his parents locate him at school next day. They talk to him nicely and that evening, they take Antoine to the cinema. But the situation goes back to its old state of affairs after that evening.
Antoine gets punished at school again. He does not want to go home. So he stays with his friend René without his mother's knowledge. Not having any money, he steals a typewriter from his father's office. He and René find that it cannot be pawned and Antoine tries to replace it but is caught by his father. Thinking that he is doing the boy a good turn, he sends him to a reformation school. That is as good as jail.
No child is born a criminal. It is the people and society around them that makes them criminals. Especially parents and schools have a big role in that.
'The 400 Blows' is an autobiographical account of Truffaut's own life with many incidents from it. He stole a typewriter from his father's office in his attempt to put his film career into motion. He has depicted it in the film in a slightly different manner.
In his grand conception of story lines, vivid imagination and dialogues on society, Truffaut was one of the most important directors of French new wave cinema as against Hollywood greats of his time. His very first film 'The 400 Blows' is a landmark in his career and film history.
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-10.01.2007
