It’s a hard world for little things.
You know when you're little you have more endurance than God is ever to grant you again.
Children are man at his strongest.
They abide.
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Lord save little children. You'd think the world'd be ashamed to name such a day as Christmas for one of them, then go on in the same old way.
My soul is humble when I see the way little ones accept their lot.
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Lord save little children. The wind blows and rains are cold...yet they abide.
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They abide and they endure.
Today, I watched The Night of the Hunter for the first time since I was probably 12. Of course, it was excellently brilliant. I thought that when I was 12 too. Of course, Robert Mitchum is stinkin' scary in the way that only psychotic preachers can be. Of course, the direction and filming and story are perfection personified. Of course, the acting is greatness.
Of course, of course, of course.
But, what really struck me this time around (and when I say struck -- I REALLY mean struck -- I was practically in tears), were the children.
Billy Chapin is so perfect as John. That is a great child acting. (Child from Shane, please pay attention. You are just annoying.) His character pulls the story together in a way I hadn't noticed at age 12. The courage; the confusion; the breakdown; and, ultimately, the restoration are all written in a way that feels realistic for the specific instances and the specific time of the Depression.
But, what really struck me (in the weeping and making sad sounds [no lie: dictionary definition for "cry"] kind of way), was the universality of John and the other children.
And Miss Cooper's response to Ruby, "You were looking for love...in the only foolish way you knew how. We all need love."
*insert gif of David Tennant crying, which I am not going to insert here because it would take away from the seriousness of this post*
I'm not one to get into the maudlin sentimentality of audiovisual entertainment. I don't often blog or speak or anything about the "power" or "emotion" of a film.
But, The Night of the Hunter just has it.
Yes, it is a brilliantly-done-in-every-way-imaginable, surreal fairy tale about a charismatic psychopath serial killer preacher. But, it is also a story about children-- their resilience and their intrinsic value.
Ugh. Everyone involved in this movie was brilliant. CHARLES LAUGHTON, YOU SHOULD HAVE MADE MORE MOVIES.
< Okay, I can't resist. This is just one of many gifs that exist of David Tennant crying in the most horribly painful way possible.
-Meg
originally published on ClassicForever on February 18, 2013