Crecia C. Swaim
L'Enfant Sauvage
,
released in 1970, is based on a true story that occurred in the early 1800's.(13) In 1798, in the forest of south-central France, someone discovered a naked boy who seemed to behave more like an animal than a boy. He was dirty, he did not speak but grunted, he walked hunched over, and he actually seemed to run or gallop more than walk. He became a subject of much curiosity, and after being held in a barn in the country, then a police station nearby, was placed at the Institute for Deaf-Mutes in Paris. At the Institute, it was soon decided (by the "educated men" of the facility, in particular the well-respected doctor Pinel) that the boy was truly wild, that he could not learn; it was even generally agreed upon that he had been "retarded" from birth, and that his parents had left him for dead in the woods. Pinel wanted to transfer the boy to a mental institution. A young doctor, named Itard, became very interested in the boy and his progress, and he convinced Pinel let him work with the boy. Itard began to feel that the boy would progress better in a different setting, and so sought and was granted permission to move the boy to his own home in the suburbs of Paris, where Itard's housekeeper, Madame Guérin would watch over him. The film details the efforts and techniques Itard uses to teach the boy, who will come to be known as Victor. Truffaut makes his major acting debut here as Dr. Itard. Although the film ends before this point, we know that Dr. Itard stopped working with Victor in 1806, yet the boy remained under the care of Madame Guérin until his death, in 1828. He was about forty years old.
Demonstrating a Critical Stance with L'Enfant sauvage
According to the CMT reading comprehension strand,
Demonstrating a Critical Stance
is defined as the ability to elaborate on a text and make judgments about that text's quality and themes. Again, in this unit we are using film as visual text. Students need to be able to use information from the film to make a prediction based on what is seen; to analyze the filmmaker's craft, including use of dialogue and mise-en-scène; to evaluate explicit and implicit information and themes within a film; to select, synthesize, and/or use relevant information within a film to include in a response to or extension of the work; and to demonstrate awareness of values, customs, ethics, and beliefs included in a film.
Just as in the previous section on
Forming an Initial Understanding
, I have used the guideline questions provided by the CT State Department of Education to create response questions that are engineered to the details of this film,
L'Enfant sauvage
. That website may also be visited for scoring rubrics. For the first five questions, I have provided sample answers (labeled SA) that show different ways a student might approach the question. I have given, for the seventeen questions that follow, a list of answer components (labeled AC), to model types of details from the film that would answer the question. The final three questions serve as further guides. With all of the following questions,
be sure
to add a sentence asking the student to use information from the film to support/explain the answer; I have eliminated it here to prevent redundancy.
Q: Why does the filmmaker begin the film with an introduction plate stating that this is a true story? Does knowing this change your experience of viewing the story?
S.A: The film shows something very much out of the ordinary. The "wild child" will not seem real or true to many viewers, and the importance of this story lies in the fact that it
is
true, that there was a boy with no name found in the woods who seemed more like an animal than a child, and who was treated very poorly by the people looking after him, until Dr. Itard believed that the boy could be educated, or at least trained. If the filmmaker didn't start the film with a statement about the story's truth, the viewer could very easily forget that it
is
based on truth, and would therefore not be able to identify as much with the boy.
Q: The filmmaker opens many scenes by irising out, and closes many scenes by irising in. Does this filming technique pull the viewer into the story or put distance between the viewer and the story?(14)
S.A: I think that the technique of irising in and out serves to both pull the viewer into the film, and then to distance him from the story. First, the viewer is pulled in because the story is opened up to him, literally. The iris out is like an invitation to watch. Then at the end of the scene the closing of the iris alienates the viewer; it feels almost like looking through a peep-hole, like this is intimate information that should not be seen, that was shared when it should not have been. Nowhere is that feeling stronger than in the final shot of Victor when he has just returned home after running away, and Dr. Itard says that they will resume their studies tomorrow. The look on Victor's face is very hard to read, it seems to be a combination of acceptance, disappointment, fear, fatigue, and anticipation. The look is so complex, and the camera lingers on it, and closes down to it, so that one is reminded that the only reason we have been able to watch this story is because people felt like Victor was less than human, and so was meant to be observed, studied. We forget and then remember that Victor is just a little boy, who we want to watch but who also deserves some privacy. (Another good shot is the iris in to Victor, perched high up in the tree at the end of the opening sequence.)
Q: Write one FACT and one OPINION from the scene when the boy was being chased by the hunters and attacked by the dogs. Explain your reasons for each choice.
S.A: One fact in the scene when the wild boy was attacked by the hunting dogs is that the boy fights back. We see him struggling and trying to pry the dog's mouth open so that he may free his arm. That the boy killed the dog, I consider an opinion. I
think
that the boy killed the dog, because it
looks
like the dog is dead, and it
sounds
like the other dogs are howling as if he is dead; though it may be
likely
that the dog is dead, we don't actually see that the boy has killed the dog.
Q: Using information from the film, explain whether or not you think we will find out how the boy ended up in the forest.
S.A: I don't think we will find out how the boy ended up in the forest because the boy was so young when it probably happened that he would not remember, and any one who would leave him, either to die or to fend for himself, would probably not come forward about it. Although the person might come forward if he/she thought that all the publicity about the boy would lead to monetary compensation. People like Dr. Pinel think that the answer is self-evident, that he was clearly abandoned to die, which means that few if any people will even try or hope for an answer. These odds make an answer very unlikely.
Q: How does the filmmaker show the way people can be fascinated by the unfortunate, and what does he seem to say about that?
S.A: When groups of people go to see the "wild boy" at the Institute for the Deaf and Mute, the caretaker there leads people as if they are about to witness a circus attraction, saying "This way to the wild boy." Everyone is staring, poking, asking questions. One woman says that she would have brought her kids if she had known how "beastly" he was going to be. By showing these blatant comments, paired with the exaggerated expressions on the people's faces, I think the filmmaker is trying to show the absurdity of the way these people are acting towards and treating the young boy. The vulgarity of the Parisian "fancy people" (as the caretaker calls them) is very apparent, and in juxtaposition to the "vulgarity" of the boy, it makes a statement of irony about what and who is really vulgar.
Q: How does the filmmaker show that the "wild boy" is like other boys?
A.C: In uncomfortable situations, he is quieter and calmer with someone he knows; his face shows fear when he is afraid (like when the dogs were chasing him) and confusion when he is confused (like when Dr. Itard tells him he got the problem wrong when he knows it is right.) He likes to play (once he learns what it is to play), he likes to be active, he doesn't like to do schoolwork all day long, and he enjoys both verbal and material praise for doing a job well.
Q: How does the filmmaker show that Dr. Itard has good teaching methods?
A.C: In the scene where the boy is looking at himself in the mirror and hasn't grasped the concept of the mirror yet, Dr. Itard takes an apple and holds it behind the boy, and moves it around so that the boy soon figures out to look behind him. Dr, Itard definitely takes advantage of teachable moments though he could stand to let the boy rest more.
Q: How does the filmmaker show that the boy has developed, in part, like an animal?
A.C: The way he pants, grunts, walks, pats at things, devours food, sleeps under the bed (not on it), buries himself in the leaf pile at the Institute for the Deaf and Mute, bites when he is afraid, can take extreme temperature.
Q: How do you think Dr. Itard feels about the boy and how he is treated by people? OR: Dr. Pinel thinks that the boy was abandoned because he was abnormal, and Dr. Itard thinks he is now abnormal because he was abandoned. What do you think? Use information from the film as well as personal opinion to explain your answer.
A.C: When Dr. Pinel says that the boy is lower than an animal, Itard says: "That's just the point. Animals are cared for, trained." Pinel asks if he really thinks the boy
can be
trained. Itard says: "I don't know. But it's useless to bring him from the forest and lock him up as if he were being punished for disappointing the Parisians." Further along in the conversation Pinel calls the boy an idiot, and Itard says he disagrees, that he thinks the boy has just "had the misfortune of spending 6,7,8 years in the forest absolutely alone."
Q: How does the filmmaker show the process the boy has to go through to assimilate into society? OR: How does the filmmaker show the changes the boy has to go through to become a part of society?
A.C: Victor gets his nails cut, his hair cut; he bathes, wears clothes, learns to choose clothes because they are warm, wears shoes, learns to walk upright, eats at the table, with utensils. Itard expresses awe that everything the boy is doing, it is for the first time.
Q: How does the filmmaker show us that Victor is getting tired of working all the time?
A.C: He gets distracted, he doesn't complete the tasks successfully, his "rages" increase, he throws things, he refuses to continue.
Q: Describe why learning how to play with Matthew and the wheelbarrow may have affected Victor's learning progress.
A.C: Learning to play taught Victor about pleasure, which made him tire of work all the time. OR: Learning to play expanded Victor's social learning, and helped him progress developmentally. OR: Learning to play helped Victor develop a release from all of the work and helped him to develop coping strategies.
Q: Write one FACT and one OPINION from the scene when Dr. Itard locks up the milk, waiting for Victor to ask for it by name.
A.C: Some facts are that Victor wants milk; that Dr. Itard wants him to ask for it; that Victor bangs his head against the cabinet; that Victor does not ask for the milk by name. Some opinions are that Dr. Itard is cruel; that he means well; that Victor is lazy; that Victor doesn't want to push himself; that Victor doesn't understand what Dr. Itard wants.
Q: Imagine that you are going to give a talk to your classmates about teaching someone how to speak. Write two important details from the film that you would include in your speech.
A.C. Speaking into the flame to demonstrate the different ways words come out, speaking in front of the mirror to demonstrate the different ways of moving facial muscles, placing fingers against my throat and the throat of someone saying the sound properly, so that I may mimic that feeling, showing how hearing needs to be developed, with the drum exercise where Victor, blindfolded, has to repeat the different sounds Dr. Itard makes with different instruments and manners of using them. Dr. Itard uses unconventional methods to model the conventions of communication he wants Victor to learn.
Q: Why does the filmmaker have Madame Guérin tell Dr. Itard that Victor's tantrums are his fault?
A.C: Itard makes Victor work all day, he has turned all of Victor's pleasures into learning exercises, she says Victor works ten times more than a normal child. The filmmaker wants the viewer to understand that everyone needs rest, that learning takes time, and especially, that children with learning difficulties and disabilities have to work much harder to progress, so you need to alter your idea of what constitutes progress, because expecting too much too soon can shut the whole process down.
Q: Why does the filmmaker show the scene of Victor playing in the rain?
A.C: He loves water, from when he would lap it up in the forest to when he broke free to lap it up on the way to Paris, to when Itard observed that he loved drinking it. The scene represents a pure pleasure for Victor, one that Dr. Itard has not taken and made into a learning exercise. I think it also represents the joy that can be found in something that is not "normal." Most people come in from the rain, and most things he likes to do, if they haven't been turned into education, have been taken from him altogether in the name of assimilation. This scene shows that maybe what is normal is not what is best; nowhere in the film does any character show joy to anywhere near the degree Victor does here.
Q: Why do you think Victor started crying when Dr. Itard yelled at him and said that he regretted knowing him?
A.C: Although Victor can not understand the words, he can understand the tone of voice and the sentiments behind the words. He could tell he was getting scolded when he was just trying to have some fun in the middle of his work, and it made him feel badly.
Q: How does the filmmaker show a difference between intelligence and understanding?
A.C: Dr. Itard thinks it is important that Victor learn to ask for the milk
before
he receives it. When Victor says it after receiving the milk, Dr. Itard views it merely as an expression of pleasure at having received the milk. Itard says that saying it before would show that Victor understood the use of words, the role of communication, because he would know that if he wanted
milk
, he had to ask for
milk
. When Itard writes Victor's name on the chalkboard, he doesn't understand that the name represents himself, although he clearly responds to his name when it is spoken. Dr. Itard comments that although Victor does not understand, he is intelligent. He invents a chalkholder, which shows great problem-solving skill, and he figures out tricks to complete the tasks Itard sets out for him successfully, through pattern instead of through comprehension.
Q: How does the filmmaker show the relationship between Itard and Victor, concerning praise?
A.C: Itard praises Victor in a very reserved manner. He does not smile when he praises him, his voice is even-toned. Victor keeps looking up at him, in hopes of something more. We are led to believe that he is hoping for Itard to give him praise in the manner that Madame Guérin gives it to him, with warmth in her voice, a big smile on her face, and by bestowing caring touches on his face and head. When Itard does this just a little bit, by lightly stroking Victor's hair after he invents the chalkholder, Victor smiles.
Q: Write one FACT and one OPINION from the scene when Dr. Itard punishes Victor for a job well-done.
A.C: Some facts are that Dr. Itard does it to teach Victor a sense of justice; that Victor will not go willingly into the closet; that Victor protests. Some opinions are that this was either a good or bad method to accomplish the goal, and that Victor is mad at Itard for it.
Q: Why do you think the filmmaker often shoots Victor through or next to windows?
A.C: To express the idea of being caged; to show Victor always looking out, away, towards what he knew, to show a sense of longing; to show that there is always the possibility of escape, but that he does not choose to pursue it (until he feels abandoned by Dr. Itard when he does not let him go along with him to the doctor's office).
Q: What would have happened if Dr. Itard had not gone to the doctor that day?
A.C: Victor probably would not have run away. We might not have seen how much Dr. Itard meant to Victor. Until this moment, we know that Victor looks to Itard for approval or reward for jobs well-done. We also know that he looks to Madame Guérin for comfort and a sense of calm. But here we see a more complex relationship with Dr. Itard. If Victor had not run away, we would not have seen him come back, which shows a decision to undergo all the work, to be a part of this quasi-family, or at least to accept it.
Q: Describe what would have happened if Dr. Itard had not received permission to move the boy to his home in the outskirts of Paris.
Q: When Victor returns home after running away, Dr. Itard ruffles his hair, says he is glad that Victor is back, and then says: "Tomorrow we'll resume our lessons."
Using information from the film, explain what you think will happen tomorrow. {If necessary, one of the following prompts may be added to the question: Will Itard try a different approach or continue along the same as usual? Will Victor take his studies more seriously or continue to rebel? What (if anything) has Dr. Itard learned? And Victor?}
Q: Using information from the film, explain whether or not you think Victor will learn to speak