Scandinavian films about coming of age are known for their special twists in the storyline. And they come in wide variety – from serious to cute and entreating but perhaps a little bit weird. Mirakel is a Danish film released in 2000,which falls into the second category. The central character is a twelve-year-old boy Dennis P (Stefan Pagels Andersen) who has a bunch of issues.
Among those issues: school problems, he likes the same girls his best friend does, his dad is gone and, his biggest problem (or at least the one that is bugging him constantly) is that he is the only boy in his class who doesn’t have pubes …). One may recall the Swedish film Barnens ö in which Reine (the young protagonist in the film) has similar worries. Dennis even mentions his problem while he prays in church, quickly adding that he “knows that this doesn’t sound like a particularly big problem compared to what else is going on around the world.” But to him it means one hell of a lot.
Dennis is quite a resourceful fellow, even if he can often be found daydreaming (looking for a solution to his problems, maybe?). At times, the film feels as if one is watching a musical, as the fantasies Dennis slips into are always filled with music and dance. The mixture of reality and fantasy may remind some of another Danish film titled En som Hodder . A trend in the Danish cinema maybe?
Film title: Almost Angels
Child’s Play or An American Short Story is a short film released in the United States in 1980. The main protagonist is Conrad (Paul Schoeman), a young boy whose parents have tragically died and he is left in the care of his sadistic aunt. The boy is pale and fragile and his aunt takes advantage of that, keeping him indoors and away from other kids. He is a lonely and bored boy whose only friend is a hen he keeps hidden in an old shed in the garden. The boy trades silver candles from the house for a mysterious creature, Sredni Vashtar, whom he worships as God, hoping that the creature will protect him.
The atmosphere of the film can easily be compared with some of the earliest adaptations of the books of Stephen King while, at the same time, the story is told in a manner not much different than one would expect to find in the tales of Hans Christian Anderson. Yet, the twenty eight minute long film is based on the short story Sredni Vashtar by Saki (Hector Hugh Munro) and additional story material written by Amy Rose Blochc, who also directs the film. There are a lot of Noir and Gothic arrangements in the story and, though the camera work is not always perfect, the viewer feels the dismay of the story. In the most powerful scene of the film, the boy and creature become one, uniting their souls with one goal – revenge!
Films are predominantly made for entertainment. However, some, such as the Russian movie The Orphans (1977) — thanks to its intelligently composed narrative — lead its viewers to powerful conclusions about life. The main protagonist is a writer who is trying hard to make sense of the childhood experiences that crafted his personality.
The main protagonist remembers the times when he was a little boy when he and his sister had to steal food in order to survive. World War II had just ended — leaving them as orphans. The grown-up writer narrates the story, telling us how his big sister, who was like a mother to him, died at the age of fourteen. From here, he finds out that they had two brothers who were adopted at an early age. Then, through a series of flashbacks, the viewer witnesses the writer’s past while, at the same time, the adult writer begins an emotional quest to reunite with a family he never got the chance to know.
Film title: Podranki (1977)
With same sex attraction becoming more and more a part of mainstream culture, some respect needs to be paid to Rubyfruit Jungle, about a young woman dealing with who she is over a period of years; its inclusion on this list is because a lot of that dealing with herself is during her early teen years. Although a little more interesting in its subject matter than the other books on this list, its success is arguably the reason that coming-out novel is such a cliché today.
