review
The fairy tale of the Little Prince has become more and more famous. Most everyone knows what it is about, but the number of people who have actually read the book is getting smaller. The film is also increasingly forgotten. In this article information about this fairy tale that is for all ages and all times. It is social criticism neatly packaged like a fairytale.
About the writer
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900 – 1944) was a French professional pilot who inspired many pilots. His most famous work is “The Little Prince” of which many derivatives exist, such as the film starring Richard Kiley, Gene Wilder and Steven Warner.
His death has long been a great mystery. In 1944 he did not return after a reconnaissance flight near Marseilles. No body was found and there was no trace of his plane. It was suspected that his plane had been shot down by Germans, but an act of desperation was not ruled out. The mystery was not solved until March 2008: 88-year-old Horst Rippert confessed that he had shot down the writer’s plane in 1944. He has long regretted his act because he was a big fan of Antione de Saint-Exupéry.
About The Little Prince
The story is about a pilot who crashes in the Sahara. There the pilot meets a little boy. The boy turns out to be a little prince who lives on an asteroid. There he took care of a beautiful rose and maintained a number of volcanoes. One day he decided to leave. This is how he came to a number of planets where he met quite striking personalities. Each person represents an adult with some obsession. The Little Prince did not understand the obsessions and moved on. So he ended up on the earth where he met 2 animals (the fox and the snake) and the pilot.
Very special is the story of the snake with the elephant in its belly and the sheep in a box. These two ideas are a wonderful example of creative thinking. The story about the rose will always stay with you.
The film
The film is a very good musical. To make the story smoother, a number of parts have been changed, but the essence of the story remains recognizable. The music is beautiful and compelling and even the snake’s long solo act remains captivating. This is of course mainly due to the strong cast and good direction.
Social criticism
The central theme in the story is the loss of childhood innocence. Adults have forgotten what it was like to be a child and engaged in senseless obsessions. As a result, they lose sight of reality (“You can only see properly with the heart. The essential is invisible to the eyes.Children often feel misunderstood because of this and try to understand the world around them by asking all kinds of questions that adults find ridiculous. Also, adults often forget the value of things: some things seem obvious while each one is unique.
Finally
It is a wonderful story for all ages: children feel included in a recognizable fantasy world and adults take a moment to reflect on their inner child.