OK, I have a confession to make. Some of my very best books and movies are children's and Little Women, To kill a Mokingbird, Heidi and Shadow the Sheepdog have been and still are some of my all time favorites. There is something about child protagonists, their world and their thought processes, their unwavering optimism and sense of adventure that I love. Perhaps every such book or movie I see takes me back to my childhood days that were the best years of my life. I mean I feel so close to what they feel, and totally associate to what they perceive and the way they react. In fact, I love some characters as if they were flesh and blood......
So, when I saw this lovely Danish movie, Ulvepigen Tinke aka Little Big Girl, on Cinemaworld (which showcases some of the best foreign cinema that you can lay your hands on), I was smitten. Simply swept off by the then 8year old Sarah Juel Werner, who worms through your heart and makes you almost give her a standing ovation, so effortless has been her performance in this delightful tale.
Briefly, it is the story of an eight year old orphaned Tinke, who sets out to search for her grandfather thereby fulfilling the last wish of her dying mother who gives her a medallion to prove her heritage. In her quest, she befriends a young shepherd Larus, who shelters her in the stable where he lives while working for an old couple. Later, her grandparents come looking for her, but she has a hard time proving to her grandad that she is indeed his grand daughter, what with her wily ways, belligerent behaviour and mischief.
Throughout the course of the movie, it is Tinke who evokes all the emotions in you, be it by her inherent predisposition to break all the laws, her stubborness in the face of any obstacle, her pranks and mischief or, on the other hand, her vulnerability that is not so easily bared, or flashes of her innocence that light up her face and tug at your heart strings....Tinke is the very soul of the movie.
Tinke all soiled, dirty and hungry when Larus finds her in a cave. She is so stricken with grief and hunger that is almost animal like, but his affections win her over.
They soon forge a beautiful friendship that lasts forever, with each one taking care of the other in their own way.
He brings her to his place and the land lady sets to give her a bath, after which she emerges clean and nice, and Larus is surprised that her hair is actually red beneath all that dirt :)
Meanwhile, flashes of the past keep floating in her thoughts, as she tries to recall her parents names so that she could set forth to find her grandparents, from whom her mother had fled and married her father who was a poor vagrant.
Her mother had given her a medallion as a keepsake and to prove her heritage.
The owners are an old couple who have a grown up son, but whom they keep locked up in the stable as he is mentally retarded and prone to sudden bouts of violence. But our Tinke is not afraid of him, and instead of shunning him, she befriends him and teaches his mother a thing or two about love!!
Her face is at times devilish, at times angelic, but this way or that, she simply moors you to her heart.
For everyone who cherishes childhood... please watch this amazing movie and this amazing child gifted with such a wonderful skill for acting. Bravo...Sarah!! Love you girl!!!
