Cinema of Childhood: ‘Crows’ and ‘Palle Alone in the World’

Both films centred on children being left alone, and it was easy to see why the two had been paired together. When Palle wakes up one day to find everyone has disappeared he had the kind of adventure little boys dream of – eating all the sweets in the sweet shop, driving a tram and flying to the moon. Wrona in Crows, meanwhile, inhabits a world where people are mostly cruel or neglectful. Left alone for a day, she kidnaps a little girl and runs away with her. While Crows was dark and disturbing, it was also overly long and the story dragged. Palle, though, was a delightful and much needed antidote.

Duke of York’s Picturehouse, 17 May 2014
Rating:
Jenni Davidson