"This Film is Not Yet Rated"

I was shocked when I watched Kirby Dick's documentary on the American film certificate system. You can see what he was trying to do with this film, to show people outside the film business how unfair and broken the system is. It's ironic then that it was this system in the end that stopped his film being seen by a wide audience.

I think what annoyed me the most was how these nameless people on the panel are somehow deemed to be the moral line for a nation of millions of people. I also think its ridiculous to have people with no specific professional training judging films on what effect they may have on an audience. Dick made a good point by suggesting that surely we should be listening to a child psychologist when it comes to deciding how a child could be effected by what they see on screen. He's is not saying anything against the panel, it is just their job, but if they are unable to give specific reasons for their decisions then they shouldn't be making the decisions in the first place.

the 400 blows

The 400 Blows

I found "The 400 blows" to be both interesting and entertaining. Although it does not completely follow the sort of default film structure an audience is used to you remain engrossed throughout. I think the most interesting thing for me was the nature vs. nurture argument it brought up. I may be reading this wrong but I felt that Truffaut was trying to assess what makes a child or a person good or bad. Is someone just born a delinquent or is it the world that changes them? I felt this idea was presented best when the boys went to a Punch and Judy show. In this scene we are shown the innocent faces of the infant children in the crowd watching the show. The puppet show maybe be masked as children's entertainment but the story being told is a very violent one. I think this scene is trying to show that children are born innocent and it is how they are exposed to the world that makes them what they are.