One ticket from deepest, darkest Peru to Paddington Station, please －暗黒の地ペルーからパディントン駅まで、片道１枚－

I don’t watch films any more.  But that’s not going to stop me reviewing them.

A friend of mine gave me a DVD of the film “Paddington” recently, which I listened to over the holidays, with the audio description feature turned on.  That provides a running commentary of the action, so that the film can be enjoyed for the audio alone.

Paddington was great!  I like children’s movies which retain a sense of light-hearted comedy and fantasy without dumbing things down.  Children’s movies don’t have to provide the solutions to the world’s problems, but there is nothing wrong with bringing them into the story and giving you a different perspective on them.  In this case, the perspective is that of a cuddly bear with a battered hat and suitcase, and a serious marmalade addiction.

The light-hearted comedy often comes from the sense of British society poking fun at itself.  Paddington falls into the gap between a traditional stereotype of tea drinking, umbrella wielding gentlemen and a more down to earth and chaotic reality.  The bears were taught English by an eccentric gentleman-explorer some forty years ago, so they have a view of Britain which is rather old fashioned and idealised.  Paddington assumes that people will greet any strangers they pass in London with a polite greeting, a doff of the hat and a comment about the weather.  He finds that in modern, bustling London, this is no longer true (if indeed it ever was).  These kind of misunderstandings keep occurring with Paddington, whose optimism about human nature and Londoners is endearing.

The serious side of the story is the film’s stressing of Paddington’s status as an immigrant or refugee.  He comes to London as a stow-away on a cargo boat with a sign hung around his neck saying “Please look after this bear.  Thank you.”  No British adult could fail to find the parallels with asylum seekers and refugees who reach Britain by hiding in the back of lorries.  Immigrants get plenty of negative publicity so, if even a bear from “deepest, darkest Peru” can learn to fit in in London, perhaps there is hope for us all.

 

Vocabulary:

audio description – a feature on some films, which is designed to allow blind or visually impaired viewers to understand the action

to retain – to keep

to dumb something down – to make something excessively simple or easy

cuddly – cute; attractive so that you want to cuddle or hug it

battered – damaged; shabby

to poke fun at – to make fun of; to laugh at in a light-hearted way

to wield – to carry

down to earth – unsophisticated; unpretentious

idealised – unrealistically stressing the positive

a doff of the hat – an old fashioned motion of greeting, briefly removing one’s hat

bustling – of a place, lively and busy

endearing – likeable

a stow-away – a person who travels by hiding on a vehicle, boat etc. rather than paying

a parallel – a point in common

an asylum-seeker – a refugee who escapes to a new country to avoid persecution, war etc.

a lorry – a truck or heavy goods vehicle