The Black Balloon Film Analysis

Elissa Down, Director of the movie The Black Balloon, shows the viewer about the representations of family, teens, disability and suburban Australia and how they all fit into each other and are not single representations, but are under one big heading. From the start of the movie we are introduced to the Mollison’s, a family of four but with one on the way, within the first minute of meeting this family we see that they are not a normal working-class Australian family. The Mollison’s have an autistic son called Charlie, who is not your average teenage boy. Not only does Charlie suffer from autism but also has many behavioral problems as he has ADHD. The day to day lives of the Mollison family are centered on the well-being of Charlie, as he
The use of camera angles between characters in heated moments throughout the film shows us the importance of family and relationships and how at times things can get tough but in the long run it is better to stay and fight together than to fight alone. An example of this is after a fight with Charlie, and as Thomas is sitting outside Jackie’s house the Camera blurs the background and is a close up shot as it focuses on the couple, which emphasizes the importance of the conversation at hand. Another scene that captures the similarities between disabled and able bodied people is the scene where Charlie and Thomas are sharing a bath, this is one of the most light-hearted and warming scenes and it adds a sense of Thomas’s inner autism. The scene competently captures Thomas’s acceptance that normalcy is not the key to a happy life and that Charlie is not merely a “spastic” but is a human being that should be treated how he wants to be