The 400 Blows

The 400 Blows is a new type of film for us. It’s completely in French, and the protagonist and main character is a child. The whole movie revolves around his life, his friends and family. What really appealed to me though was the fact that it was coming of age. Coming of age movies have a really special place for me, because of some things I’ve gone through. Seeing kids being kids and doing dumb kid things, reminds me that I shouldn’t have wished everyday when I was younger that I wanted to grow up faster. Just running around with your friend when you’re supposed to be in class, or having the teacher rag on you for reasons you can’t seem to comprehend, and going home and actually talking to your parents about the day you had, and recovering advice. All things our protagonist goes through. The problems in this movie are juvenile and as serious all at the same time. They seem so big to children, but so small to an adult, but you if you really step back and see what’s going on there’s a much larger underlying problem at hand. I really like how the movie ends because of the significance of the ocean and what it means to me. To me the ocean means freedom and the ability to explore. When things got rough dealing with growing I would always run away to the beach to be alone, and just think. Also the ocean for me represents destruction but that’s another story. The fact that Antoine went through all that he did while growing up is very relatable and we just have to sympathize with him because we’ve all been. We might not understand him, but he understands himself. The freeze frame of him at the water was in my opinion the best way to end the movie.