Let me say that Children will hardly be a film for everyone.
Yet, as a boy in 1976 struggling with his own adolescence back then, Children, made in that same year, presented a perspective of my own life that hit so close to home. The loneliness, the hiding, the sense of shame about one's sexuality and the threats, at times real, often times imagined, of the bullying by other boys. Young Robbie Tucker (played by Phillip Mawdsley) comes off as almost catatonic at first. One might first attribute this to opening scenes where we see Robbie being bullied. Yet, as the film progresses, so too does our understanding and appreciation of Tucker's school and family struggles which are then interspersed with scenes of him as a young man. While perhaps dated, the film still resonates in way that all marginalized children in our 'advanced' Western society will easily relate to. For such a short film, Children packs a bigger wallop than many other like films.
Yet, as a boy in 1976 struggling with his own adolescence back then, Children, made in that same year, presented a perspective of my own life that hit so close to home. The loneliness, the hiding, the sense of shame about one's sexuality and the threats, at times real, often times imagined, of the bullying by other boys. Young Robbie Tucker (played by Phillip Mawdsley) comes off as almost catatonic at first. One might first attribute this to opening scenes where we see Robbie being bullied. Yet, as the film progresses, so too does our understanding and appreciation of Tucker's school and family struggles which are then interspersed with scenes of him as a young man. While perhaps dated, the film still resonates in way that all marginalized children in our 'advanced' Western society will easily relate to. For such a short film, Children packs a bigger wallop than many other like films.