Le Balloon Rouge

Have you seen The Red Balloon?  It is a 1956 French film about a little boy and a red balloon that befriends him.  It's only 34 minutes long and is takes place in the streets of Paris.  It has lovely images, cinematography and a message about how others can be jealous and cruel.

This movie is special to me because I watched it as a little girl.  I remember the teacher setting up the reels and watching it in class, more than once.  I remember longing for the balloon to be safe, and cheering on the little boy who protected him from the mean boys.  How I was concerned that the mean boys would steal and pop him.  Ah, the tension!

This morning I came into the living room and there was The Red Balloon in all of it's glory on my television!  My husband had chosen it for our 4yr old to watch and I was transported back in time.  I'd forgotten most of the movie but it seemed familiar at the same time.  It has probably been around 25 years or more since I'd last seen it (yikes).

My 4 year old seemed to like the movie as well.  She had the same concerns about the balloon and cheered it on as it flew about.  She like me was relieved that there was a happy balloon ending. :)

Have you seen the movie?  It's on Netflix, go check it out!  

And now a request:

This reminded me of another film I saw back in school.  It was about a planet where the sun didn't shine and so the kids had to use sunlamps. But, every 10 years or so the sun shone for one afternoon.  The school kids were teasing one of the other students and he got locked into a room that day and didn't get to go out into the sun.  They all felt horrible when they remembered and brought him flowers from the fields.  Does anyone know the name of this movie?