ScreennNot-All-Too-Bad Kids and Inept BlasphemynBreaking Away; Directed by PeternYates; Written by Steve Tesich;n20th Century-Fox.nPeppermint Soda; a film by DianenKurys; a Gaumont/New YorkernFilms Release.nMonty Python’s Life of Brian; Directednby Terry Jones; Written bynGraham Chapman, John Cleese, TerrynGilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones,nMichael Palin; Handmade Films.nby Eric ShapearonW. C. Fields, that great visionary,nmay have had the right instinct: duringnthe last two decades, we have begun tonrealize that neither the atom bomb, nornbolshevik Russia, nor the corruption ofnpower are the real threats to America.nIt has begun to dawn on us that thensupreme danger is kids. The word “kid,”nin itself, is full of treachery and traps.n”Kid” is not a homogenous notion whichnworks at many levels of normal consciousness.nA four-year-old kid cannalready carry the miasma of lethal disruptionnof reality; a 12-year-old cannmenace our most cherished principlesnand our very sense of civilization; ann18-year-old can breed debaucheries,nboth carnal and mental. And recently,nthe 30-year-old kid has become a symbolnof malignant incoherence, a feebleminded,nmostly drugged burden to society,nwho occasionally throws bombsnat police precincts and whom the liberalnpress calls a socially frustrated kid whennhe is caught. We did not heed the advicenof Fields, who recommended stranglingnkids the moment they made theirn”kidness” into an argument: consequently,nwe had Berkeley, CharlesnReich and Yippies.nNow, two movies tell us that perhapsnwe were not completely wrong in re­nfraining from the mass-murder of kids.nBreaking Away is exceptionally convincing.nIts picture of life and peoplenis shamelessly romanticized (what’snwrong with that.”) and has the power tonstay with us for a good while after wenleave the movie house and come homento watch the dreary news on TV. Thenfilm brings back an attractive goodnessnin a remarkably unobtrusive way. In myngeneration, we had movies that stayednwell-ensconced for decades in “the darknchambers of our imagination”—asnthe biblical prophet Ezekiel describednthis part of our awareness with hisnliterary elegance. Later, these samenfilms were tried before the liberal culture’snkangaroo courts and convictednof distortion, or falsification of reality;nbut then, not long ago, they were parolednas camp and nostalgia. Even if theirnidealism was a fib, so what.-* They enrichednus, while their absence todaynimpoverishes us. They knew how to bendisturbing without being destructive.nAnd Breaking Away, a sort of Bildungsromannin a hamburger-pizza-stand landscape,nrescues something of their almostnforgotten flavor. The story is about annIndiana working-class boy who discoversnthe taste of defeat and triumph, that lifenis both ugly and lovely, and how thenclass consciousness of someone who isn19, and in the very middle of America,ncan be a source of strength and joy, notnhatred and disdain a la Mother fones.nThere’s no such idealized unity ofntone in Peppermint Soda, a French talenabout two sisters, 13 and 15 years ofnage. They are in the midst of the tormentsnof feminine puberty. The oldernsister approaches the dilemmas of growingnup with routine recipes and somewhatnstereotyped unconcern. Thenyounger still dwells in a muddle ofnmurky girlishness, and thus is muchnmore interesting. There’s a light touchnin their quandaries of high school hfennnand the process of their acculturationninto womanhood. It would sound likenplatitude to call this the Gallic sense ofnhumor, rather, it’s nested in the director’snempathy with their condition. Theynare both believable and appealing. Theirnlove for their mother, while sailingnthrough the roily waters of a split familynhome and so-called modern lifestyle innthecontemporary urban choas, somehownbecomes more precious than if it werenframed by Little House on the Prairienattitudes. Diane Kurys has an insistentlynsketchy style. She thinks, perhaps, thatnit loads her film with allusions and innuendos.nRather, it makes it a bit fuzzy.nI was an unabashed fan of the MontynPython group and genre as long as theirnsubject matter was idiocy. They werengreat when they commented on thisnelemental and cataclysmic force which,nperhaps, rules mankind’s history to anlarger extent than we dare to admit.nHowever, when the boys’ endeavors innthe domain of imbecility scored prodigiously,ntheir vanity grew in proportionnto their success. They decided to putntheir exertions into commenting onnphilosophy. This fateful mistake turnednthem into idiots, and Life of Brian servesnas a perfect example of their pratfall.nThe movie is about Christianity’sndawn. Religious feelings are among thenmost complex and valuable of humanninstincts: how can they be examined innart and drama without sounding offensive.’nA difficult question, endemic tonWestern civilization. Anatole France,nan agnostic, created Abbe Coignard, anCatholic priest, who both sins and regretsnin such a touching way that readingnhis adventures brings to the Churchnmore benefit than harm. France certainlyndid not want to help religion, but hisngenius kept telling him that since faithnis profundity and human warmth, usingn•33nIVovcmber/December 1979n