THis is a wonderful children's film full of fascinating adult tensions. The reactionary assumptions of the source material remain - the upper class are jolly nice and paternalistic; the bourgeoisie (represented by Eleanor Bron) are grasping, slave-owning monsters; India is not a massive subcontinent rife with internal and anti-colonial divisions, but a bright fantasy world of escape from reality - but the film is full of darkness unusual for such a film: apartheid, child abuse, poverty, the disruptive, harrowing effects of war, the absence of parents. In this way, the film's style, veering between fantasy and expressionistic 'realism' is impressive. The social order may be restored, but the film is full of heartening little revolutions: its ultimate message is, look HARDER.
Review of A Little Princess
