Earlier today, I read David Thomson's list of twenty sensibility-broadening films parents should watch with their children, and, while impressed with the critic's avoidance of obvious and very recent titles, it seems he'd rather confound youngsters than enlighten them. I mean, aside from being able to put it in my mental "seen" queue, I had no use for Citizen Kane until I accepted symbolism and metaphor in fiction (because there is that period in your early teens where you keep insisting "Why can't a green light just be a green fucking light!?!?". Actually, some folks never get past that. We call them "dullards". Or, in certain rural pockets of Indiana "cheese-dicks". Usage note: they no longer hyphenate in French Lick due to a rather heavy-handed intervention a decade ago by Larry Bird.)
But the overriding tone of Thomson's list suggests he'd like to subtly induce trauma, because, let's face it, there's no cushioning the impact of The 400 Blows' final shot unless you can pull off "I know it looks cold and desolate and kinda like the end of the world, but that's actually going to be top-dollar real estate in ten years, so little Antoine is going to squat on that property and make a killing once the market comes around." What pisses me off about this is that it's a half-measure; there are much more scarring depictions of childhood interrupted than Kane or The 400 Blows or tired old Oliver Twist (even when interpreted by Polanski, though Thomson, being a Brit, of course favors Lean lest he be accused of cultural treason), but DT's too much of a pussy to suggest them.
I, however, am not. Here are ten films viewed, in one sense or another, through the eyes of a child that'll really give your kids a nice, deep psychological bruising.
The Tin Drum - Little Oskar Matzerath has a problem. Born in East Germany prior to World War II, he doesn't much care for the hypocritical, morally confused adult world and its steady descent into fascism. So, in protest, he wills himself to stop growing at the age of three, occasionally shatters glass with a high-pitched shriek, and bangs on the titular instrument as the Nazis rise to power and act the motherfuckin' fool. In a positive development, Oskar catches on with a bunch of kooky dwarves, while his sexual awakening is cruelly thwarted (but it's kind of funny 'cuz he's all small).
Night of the Hunter - If anyone remotely resembling Robert Mitchum ever marries your widowed mother, run like hell (though not before making off with his weed, because you know it took some strong shit to faze the Mitch).
Halloween - When your sister goes and turns whore, you can either sit there and stew about it or you can take up a butcher knife and make a piercing case for abstinence until marriage over and over again. And when Donald Pleasance shows up in a station wagon fifteen years later, you're home free to spread the gospel anew, though you'll have to look like a mummified William Shatner while you do it. Life is full of compromises like that.
The Wild Bunch - Fucking with insects is someone else's bad karma.
The Children - The one upside of getting engulfed in a radioactive fog on the way home from school: your fingernails turn black and you can instantly char anyone you touch. Other than that, it's to be avoided. What do you mean you've never heard of this movie?
Foxes - Inside every adolescent girl resides a slut...
Lost & Delirious - ... and a lesbian...
Heavenly Creatures - ... and a killer. Proceed with caution.
Hardcore - Okay, so technically this isn't a child's-eye-view of the world, but a sixty-year-old Calvinist businessman from Grand Rapids, Michigan is awfully goddamn close. Plus, it's all about his stygian slog through the 1970's Los Angeles porn scene in search of his runaway teenage daughter who's eking out a living doing the do in front of the camera. Strong stuff, to be sure, but Peter Boyle's sleazy private detective shtick should go over big with the young ones.
Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom - Fun for fascists is not fun for you.