Every Child (1979)

Instant Favorite.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Eugene Fedorenko's Oscar-winning "Every Child" got created with the help of UNICEF, which had declared 1979 the Year of the Child. The short focuses on a baby abandoned by successive families until one adopts her. I don't know how many children there are in foster homes today, but it almost certainly violates the Convention on the Rights of the Child. To be certain, indigenous children are disproportionately represented in Canada's foster care system (I assume that the same is true in the US).I recommend this short. Partly a look at children's rights, it also brings up another point. How do we reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies? Countless people rail against abortion but don't offer a solution to prevent unwanted pregnancies. If not abortion, then what?

That this short won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short should be conclusive proof that the Academy can prefer political or sociological content over quality. The animation itself is OK, except for ugly character designs and a style that varies inconsistently between sophisticated and childish. The sound is interesting, as Les Mimes Électriques provide all the sound effects in the cartoon using just their voices, and masking anything that might be dialogue as incoherent mumbling. Unfortunately, what passes for the story, however well-intentioned it may be, is both preachy and banal, as a baby is abandoned on a succession on doorsteps, with no one able to find room in their lives to take her in, until she ends up at a dump where a couple of homeless people decide to care for her. Apparently the makers of this cartoon think that simply being in favor of children having good homes is a strong enough social statement to build a cartoon around.(And while it didn't affect my rating, the obvious subtext that the poor are more humane (or, indeed, more human) than the wealthy or the middle class is annoying, as both a stereotype and a cliché.)

In 1979, the United Nations and its program UNICEF started a fund-raising campaign that designated the year as, "The Year of the Child". That campaign is referenced by this short at the very beginning. The short went on to win the Academy Award and is an incredibly moving look at one child's journey. The title refers to the concept that every child is entitled to a name and a personal identity as an individual as well as humane treatment. I'm very glad to see that this is in-print and it is most highly recommended. Possibly the best thing the National Film Board of Canada has ever produced, at least to date.

Made for the UN International Year of the Child, I saw this short almost twenty years ago at a theatre in Frankfurt Germany. It was played before the main feature. I have longed to see it again because it was so funny. Fans of animation should catch this classic! Funny for all ages.