The Red Balloon

This allegorical story of a boy and his red balloon has only a few background words of dialogue. The parable unfolds in carefully plotted images and beguiling actions that give the balloon more personality than some "A List" actors. The balloon ducks into alleys, rises suddenly to escape grabbing hands, pauses in front of a mirror to admire itself. It's as alive as the boy is. Here's the story: A young boy (Pascal Lamorisse) untangles a bright red balloon from a lamppost and tries to give it away, but the balloon returns to him. It hovers outside his window. It follows him to school where, dodging playfully out of reach, it escapes the groping hands of the other children and gets the boy in trouble. A gang of older boys chase the boy down, capture the balloon, and take it to an abandoned place where they torment it with rocks and slingshots. While the boy tries to rescue it, the balloon grows weary looking, settles to the ground, and is stomped on, signaling a peculiar call to arms.