A Child Went Forth

A Child Went Forth is a pleasant bit of film that evidenced to frightened parents suffering the London bombings during World War II, that a safe haven existed in the English countryside where for a while they could place their youngest children out of harm's way.

The title is from a Walt Whitman poem about childhood...basically that every day a child lives, anything he touches becomes part of that child forevermore. A flower petal, a puppy, cool pond water, kind words from his adult caregiver, a loving hug, yummy food treats...anything at all. I'll provide a bit of the verse for reference:

"THERE was a child went forth every day; And the first object he look'd upon, that object he became; And that object became part of him for the day, or a certain part of the day, or for many years, or stretching cycles of years.

The early lilacs became part of this child, And grass, and white and red morning-glories, and white and red clover, and the song of the phoebe-bird..."

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Some nudity while the toddlers frolic about in the pond is naturally captured in this short film and is complimentary to the setting, inasmuch as that was how younger children normally played in swimming water at the time.

No source of this film for sale is currently available, but a successful search on the internet will find a British historical web site which offers downloads of this film in several different formats.

For those persons who are interested in Great Brittain war time history, this classic short film is important, as it addresses an area that has normally been completely ignored...the younger child of war.

Who would have thought that, during his exile in Hollywood, Luis Bunuel collaborated (under the auspices of the Museum of Modern Art's film branch) with Joseph Losey, then just starting his own important(and turbulent) career? In certain aspects, this documentary about the education of war orphans – which sticks close to nature but pretty much leaves them to their own devices – evokes memories of the Spanish Surrealist's LAS HURDES aka LAND WITHOUT BREAD (1932), while looking forward to the film that saw his eventual artistic renaissance i.e. LOS OLVIDADOS aka THE YOUNG AND THE DAMNED (1950). On the other hand, while his Communist ideals were at the fore of Losey's preliminary work (the director's American phase), they would be much less prevalent during his refuge from political oppression in Europe. To get back to the film, or rather short, at hand: the kids' various antics – quarreling amongst themselves, letting rip in mud and water, or rendered curious by the presence of animals – make for generally pleasant (if hardly exciting) viewing, despite the grim undertones pertaining to their background. With this in mind, the distinct feeling which one takes from it is that these children grow up to be somewhat better prepared to face life's travails than ones whose parents may have unconsciously sheltered to the ultimate detriment of their character formation.