Forced Orphans
“Forced Orphans” is about two children who witness their parents going through a divorce. They both get separated and have to spend time at either parent’s homes. Eventually they conceive a plan to run away from their parent’s problems as they’re acting childish themselves. And by run away, I mean literally, run away. The two siblings go on an adventure and encounter new friends…
A thing I really liked about this was how it showed the negative effects of how divorce can affect children. It’s ugly. It’s not fun. And it can be damaging to the children’s innocence. I’ve experienced it, as a lot of people have, and that’s what makes this film relatable. Looking back on it now, the two siblings were best of friends just as my sister and I were. This film doesn’t get too dark though and stays pretty lighthearted all the way to the end.
I think it’s interesting how the filmmakers portrayed the parents as acting like children. The truth of the matter is… they often do. I think in this case it works as it does add an interesting touch to the overall film. The fact we get to see the children be the adults and walk away is pretty impressive. Isn’t it usually flipped where the adults tell children to just walk away from their problems and be the bigger person? Not all families are perfect, which this goes to show, and I think often times the biggest achievements of this film highlights that element of life.
The fact it not only showed the negative effects on children, but also the adults shows this film knows very well who the target audience is; anybody and everybody. Anybody can understand the difficulties this film presents and everybody knows of somebody who has or is going through problems such as divorce. A family can watch this and the parents could easily explain what exactly is going on. A kid can watch this with friends and tell them what it means. The list goes on and on.
The editing and cinematography of this was well done. It was very much straightforward and to the point. The camera is constantly moving from character to character and making the whole situation feel rather chaotic. At times I found that it matched the possible mood the kids were in. When they are calm, the camera is smooth. When they are distressed, the camera is shaky. It works well to add to the clusterness of the overall film itself.
I liked how it dealt with divorce for the most part. This isn’t a perfect film… but it’s a film that addresses something that can have detrimental effects on relationships regarding family. Divorce often times goes overlooked and this film happens to shine a light on it. Although the journey the kids go on is questionable and some of the strangers they meet are a bit… odd… the film does a fine job explaining that there will always be somebody to go to if divorce is ever of a concern to children and a family.
