From the brave Kéria who sets off to rescue the forests of Borneo in the stop motion Savages (Sauvages), to the fierce Alma (Kaja Zabret) who follows in her late mother’s activist steps to prevent the destruction of her neighborhood playground in Block 36 (Igrišča ne damo), this year’s festival selection had no shortage of inspiring young female heroes.
However, we were also reminded that activism can involve seemingly less ambitious undertakings, such as an unlikely friendship between people from vastly different age groups who rescue each other in a world that doesn’t always see them. A friendship like this highlights the importance of compassion and kindness; it is a pillar that can sustain larger communal projects.
In Blue Sky Jo (La petite et le vieux), which won this year’s FIPRESCI Prize, we meet the wide-eyed Hélène (Juliette Bharucha), who through her love of cartoons and adventure, identifies a dormant superhero sidekick in the shape of her new neighbor, the grumpy Monsieur Roger (Gildor Roy), a man who might seem like an ogre to less imaginative spectators.
Trying to grapple with the reality of having spent a lifetime taking care of others but being left with no one to look after him in old age, Monsieur Roger has become a shell of himself, even if his former self is revealed in delicate moments when he forgets his sadness in order to aid anyone who needs him. Ten-year-old Hélène, who has also taken on the role of her family’s savior, sees a kindred spirit in him, and takes him under her generous wing. She trains him in the art of kindness using the manuals she has received from her father, such as Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, leading them both to enter a dazzling imaginary world, the place where literature allows us to escape, recharge and nurture our souls.
Although the little girl’s mission is quite clear, she needs to prevent her father (Vincent-Guillaume Otis) from committing suicide due to his misery at work. She is unaware that in recruiting her neighbor, she is in fact saving two lives. A paramedic of waning spirits, Hélène charges through with tenacity and the kind of blissful unselfconsciousness only the innocence of youth can bring.
Based on the novel by Marie-Renée Lavoie and directed with flair and vibrancy by Patrice Sauvé, Blue Sky Jo deals with mature themes such as mental illness, social injustice and loneliness without falling into miserabilism or condescending to younger audiences. It’s a film that gracefully extends a bridge between generations.
Bharucha is a revelation, taking hold of the screen and deploying the kind of effortless charm that instantly wins us over. Through her sensitive performance, we can see who Hélène will be as an adult and root for a society that cherishes and nurtures her. Despite the film being set in the 1980s, it doesn’t overindulge in nostalgia.
But are we doing enough to empower the Hélènes of our day? How did we start letting children fix the mistakes of adults? As much as there is to celebrate in Blue Sky Jo and all the other films led by courageous girls screened at Schlingel, it would be unfair to sit back and wait for others to provide us with hope. No longer an abstract concept or a dream waiting over the rainbow, this is a necessary communal project we are all being asked to help build.
José Solís
Edited by Lesley Chow
© FIPRESCI 2024