Film Review : The NeverEnding Story

Film Review : The NeverEnding Story

bonjour bonjour bonjour

Today I want to share you a film that is close to my heart, one that reminds me of my early childhood, The NeverEnding Story. This German film, carried about by WolfGang Petersen and released in 1984, is an adaptation of the first part of Michael Ende’s novel, The NeverEnding Story. Its a Fantasy movie that has had a favourable reception throughout the world, except in the United States, and that will followed by two other films.

We follow the character of Bastien, a little boy who has just lost his mother, and who is asked to be less in his dreams, to be a little more down to earth. After an altercation with the bad little boys from his school, he’s gonna hide in a bookstore on his street. He will thereafter find himself in possession of an apparently special and dangerous book. Bastien will start reading this book and immerse himself in a fantastic world disappearing because of the «nothingness» that engulfed everything on his way, and that only a little boy, Atreyu, can save. As the plot evolve, we will realize that there is a link between Bastien and Atreyu, between the hero of the book and the human of the real world.

Although he is not of my generation, this film is really, for me, an escape. A film through I can let my imagination speak, and let myself carry in the place of the little Bastien in this fairy world of Fantasia. I also pay particular attention to the spellbinding landscapes that can be seen in this film. Throughout his quest, Atreyu will travel through lush plains, a welcoming white desert or the terrible swamps of melancholy, as sinister as they can be captivating.

Besides that, I don’t think I’m the only one who was a little traumatized by this film as a child. Indeed, it gives off a very strange, heavy atmosphere. The special effects make the film super kitch, with monsters all more disturbing than each other. All this is accompanied by a smell of melancholy and depression. Behind that childish side, I tend to think that this film is about the depressive feeling, the loss of control of a generation. I am talking about the generation after the 1980s, from which disillusions appear and from which arrive many confusing truths and consequences of the previus generation. Or, it is possible that he is simply talking about this often difficult transition, between early childhood and adolescence, which sometimes leads us to take refuge in imaginary worlds. This film also wants to send us an important message, that sounds like not to lose our child’s soul, our overflowing imagination. Of course, when you look at it a few years later, this kitch side can become very funny, very ironic and thus bring down this oppressive atmosphere.

Ironically, the film starts on something that looks like ending music. I found that very funny. But otherwise, we can only appreciate this breathtaking soundtrack, composed by Giorgio Moroder. This Music takes us through the quest of Atreyu, with synths typical of the 80s. It is definitively a bonus for me because I like particularly this composer.

To conclude, it stays for me a heart-warming movie, that i like to rewatch sometimes. It is my kind of Madeleine de Proust. And more than this amusing side, i like very especially the way the movie makes us think about our way to look the world, our imagination, and it reminds me some of my childhood memories.

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