Intro.
Turner Classic Movies defines a "classic" film as one that is at least 30 years old. I have held to this standard for the films I've reviewed so far, but this one has to be an exception. A little while ago, one of my friends told me that she had grown up watching a film called Sarah and the Squirrel and loved it - Sarah was a young girl living in the woods where she befriended a cute little squirrel. It wasn't until years later that my friend re-watched her childhood classic only to discover that Sarah was actually in the woods hiding from German soldiers who had taken her family to a concentration camp. Myself and a few of our other friends did not believe her, but we found the film and decided we had to see it for ourselves.Overview
The film opens in live action, with Mia Farrow acting as a narrator. She says that the story of Sarah is true, and that the film is dedicated to children the world over who are affected by war. It's a grim opening to be sure, and soon leads us to images (both animated and real) of a town being bombed. Sarah's mother, father and grandmother take her to the woods where they dig an underground bunker and cover it with a pile of logs and leaves. The family hides in the bunker until the grandmother gets sick. When Sarah's father goes to get medicine for her (or at least, that's what we think happens to him as he disappears), Sarah goes out to collect berries. She comes back only to see her mother and grandmother being forced into a truck by soldiers. They tell her to find her father and stay hidden, which she tries to do. Time passes and Sarah befriends some of the forest creatures, including a cute (although somewhat gigantic) squirrel. She witnesses a failed attempt by resistance fighters to destroy a key railroad bridge, so she then goes to great lengths to destroy the bridge herself. Her reasoning - no bridge, no supplies, no guns, no war! While Sarah miraculously succeeds at destroying the bridge, she is still left alone in the woods and forced to run away from soldiers with a scent-hound. There is no real ending, just Sarah alone with her woodland creature friends.Points to Consider
I mean no offense to my friend's good childhood memories, but I didn't like this film very much, and I agree that the PG-13 rating should be followed (or at least a PG one!). While most of the film is sort of slow and mellow with some great classical music (Vivaldi!), you can't overlook the real-life clips of bombings and tanks and the horrors of seeing people within the labor camps (at one point Sarah witnesses her school-teacher on the brink of death). It begs the question - at what age do we start teaching children about war and the Holocaust? I did a little research last night, and found that most lesson plans focused on middle-school aged children, though a few websites had K-6 lesson plans as well. I'm not sure when this film would be shown, as it is at once both very juvenile and very adult. It has some definite problems trying to figure out what its intended audience should be.Mia Farrow opens the film by saying that it is not only Sarah's story, but a testament to all children in all wars. That, I believe, is what the film does well. If anything, viewers can understand just how sad, lonely and frightened Sarah is. Her dream sequence especially shows us that she only wants life to go back to normal, where everything feels almost like a fairy tale. Instead, the friendly animals are scared away by birds (that look like bombers) which land and turn into hideous black demon-like creatures who set the peaceful woods on fire. It turns out those creatures are actually soldiers who grab Sarah and end her entire world. I thought it was really interesting how the film is about the Nazis in Poland, but there are no real identifying characteristics. The soldiers lack any Nazi insignia, in fact the soldiers we see all look pretty standard and hard to identify. Likewise, there are several different accents used by the townspeople (which is most likely due to a problem with production, as it was a low-budget picture), and when Sarah dreams, she envisions a wilderness filled with animals from around the world.* I don't remember if they are ever referred to as Germans, though I may not remember. I only remember Sarah calling them soldiers.
Finally, there is a definite child-like logic that Sarah has - if she can collapse the bridge, just one bridge, she will stop the war. For to her, the war is only what she sees in her village. And however improbable or impossible that objective is, Sarah must accomplish it, not only for herself, but for all those children she represents. That was my favorite part of the film, even in spite of its obvious plot-failures. There is something to be said about her determination against a seemingly impossible task. It's a fitting climax for the film, though it leaves the ending sort of lacking. We never find out what happens to Sarah. Perhaps it's better that way, as a happy reunion with her father would have been too unrealistic while her being captured and sent to a camp is too realistic.
Review
Due to the clear confusion of what the intended audience should be as well as the other problems with low-budget films, Sarah and the Squirrel was not impressive. It was, however, an interesting perspective on how we teach children about the Holocaust as well as an entertaining look at the kind of movies we watched as kids. All in all, I do have to give credit to the producers as this is a good story to tell and an important (although poorly executed) mission to show the effects of war on children.*This sentence may be my mistake though, as I just checked and, believe it or not, there are Polish Bison and Moose! See for yourself here.
