Director Pascal Ramorez refers to a state of freedom that is free and unfettered through the balloon, the signifier on the screen. At the beginning of the story, the little boy found the freedom that people neglected and gave up for a long time. He ran happily, as if conveying the unspeakable joy in his heart. However, on the way, the bus did not accept it, and passersby looked at it with strange eyes. Mothers let it go, children swarmed to snatch it, and so on, all of which can be seen as the authoritarian regime's use of various forms of repression to limit "freedom" to what they think is reasonable, that is, "Freedom with scale". The red balloon seems to be spiritual and elusive. Even if the boy wants to reach out and grab it and hold it firmly in his hand, he may not always be able to do so. The red balloon that symbolizes freedom always seems to be close to his eyes, but far away in the sky.
In the era of authoritarianism, the existence of freedom is not allowed, and the enthusiastic will to advocate freedom will only be regarded as an out-of-control manifestation of rebellion and disorder. Inside, he looks extraordinarily lonely and lonely. Under the ravages of various rebellious situations, the red balloon that symbolizes the rising sun and gives people infinite hope gradually disappears in the sky.
The short film with no dialogue, with a touch of sadness, freedom is flying high like a balloon, and it is also fragile like a balloon. When the red balloon burst, countless colorful balloons flew into the air from all over Paris and gathered over the little boy. Suddenly I thought of the idea of "from choice to resistance" advocated by a French literary school in the 1950s.
Of course, Sartre's "existentialism" thought not only influenced the new wave directors who emerged later, but this surrealist film that preceded the new wave can also see Sartre's old man's smirk.
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