Yes, this is my second comment on "Bambi". My first, now deleted comment was only a reaction of my surprise, how captivating, moving, and impressive this movie was for me, when i saw it again in 2005, more than 30 years after i saw it for the first time as a child. In the meantime, i saw it approx. 20-30 times again and due every seeing, it reveals more of its depth. So i started a exploration to find out more about it: The technique, art, Walt Disney and all the other man behind it... The essence of all is quite simple: It is, in every aspect, a monument of pure poetry and pure art! It contains only approx. 900 words of dialogs, in which was more said than in many books with 1000 pages, with a runtime of 70 minutes, it contains more depth and epic than almost every 3-hours film. It is a story about the life himself, with all the light and all the darkness.
It's not a fairy tale. There is no princess to be rescued, no spell to be broken, no villain to be defeated. It contains not a typical storyline. It don't need such trivial things! It was not forced toward by "what happens next" suspense, it flows like the seasons, it goes on with the power of nature. It is the first and the truest circle of life, that Walt Disney created. "Bambi" was often called the "typical Disney film", but in fact, it is the most non typical Disney film! Whoever ventured in became part of an experience so strong that neither heart nor mind could ever forget it's impact!
Disney and his crew didn't translate Felix Salten's Book literally into film. This was impossible due the huge differences between the technique of storytelling in a book and a film, but they catch the inner spirit that Salten described. It took more than 5 years of hard work to find the right way in transforming the book's soul into a film. And the way that they finally found was perhaps the only way that pay the highest homage to Salten's book.
You may be disappointed, because there is no really a plot in it (this is according to Salten's book too; it is more a collection of incidents, that enabled the young fawn to learn the profound lessons which in time made him the wisest deer in the forest). It may be boring for some people when they saw it for the first time. But if you submerge in it, you will explore a whole new world. So forget all about story lines and plots, common in almost all movies. Let delve yourself by the gorgeous opening scene into Bambi's world! Align your expectations to that of the young fawn. It may be look so mundane, when Bambi starts to discover the world around him. The flowers, the rain, the other animals, but every new discovery is a revelation. It is the same adventure, that all of us have experienced in our childhood.
Later, the world starts to reveal his somber side. The first time on the meadow, when Bambi must run away from the hunters. The first fun in the wintertime turned into the danger of starvation for the deer. And then, right after the first fresh spring grass evoke new hope, follows on of the most iconic scenes in movie history. It is a perfect off camera-scene and the turn point of the whole film, a symbol for the end of childhood and innocence for our young hero. For many young children (and for me too, when i was 5 or 6 years old and saw "Bambi" for the first time) this seminal scene was the first experience, that the world can be very cruel... it took more than a half century, before Disney dared a similar scene in "The Lion King" again.
"Bambi" was often criticized as an "anti hunting movie". But is this true? No. Felix Salten, author of the book "Bambi", was a hunter too Perhaps only a hunter that is common with all the animals around him can wrote such a penetrating and deep story. The whole story was told trough the eyes of the animals. Man was not a typical villain with a goal, i.e. to conquer the world, to be the king or something else. Man was more like a deadly force majeure, a storm, a volcano or an earthquake, and his acting was a riddle for the limited minds of the forest creatures, and when Disney decided to let Man unseen in the whole movie, he strengthen the feeling of a dark menace.
"Bambi" did not need a common plot nor need it sophisticated dialogs too. The story was primary told with music, colors, light and impressionistic color-shifting to depict Bambi's inner feelings rather than words. Bambi's forest is a powerful and truth, yet poetic and ethereal interpretation of the forests of our dreams...and sometimes of our nightmares, too. "Bambi" connecting art and poetry with reality in a way that has never seen before and never seen again. It is a movie that follows his own rules, a awesome work of art, that is comparable to Mozart's compositions or to the paintings of Leonardo da Vinci!
"Bambi" gives the most honest, gritty portrayal of the full range of art, poetry and emotion in the history of cinema. It moves you, it let you laugh, it let you cry, it let you fear, it gives you hope. It is a film about friendship and the strength of character, and about the spirit of life!
There never has and never will be another film like "Bambi", it is unique and timeless. Walt Disney himself always said, that "Bambi" is his favorite of all his movies. I'm fully agree with Walt: "Bambi" is an immortal classic and one of the most important films of all time!
It's not a fairy tale. There is no princess to be rescued, no spell to be broken, no villain to be defeated. It contains not a typical storyline. It don't need such trivial things! It was not forced toward by "what happens next" suspense, it flows like the seasons, it goes on with the power of nature. It is the first and the truest circle of life, that Walt Disney created. "Bambi" was often called the "typical Disney film", but in fact, it is the most non typical Disney film! Whoever ventured in became part of an experience so strong that neither heart nor mind could ever forget it's impact!
Disney and his crew didn't translate Felix Salten's Book literally into film. This was impossible due the huge differences between the technique of storytelling in a book and a film, but they catch the inner spirit that Salten described. It took more than 5 years of hard work to find the right way in transforming the book's soul into a film. And the way that they finally found was perhaps the only way that pay the highest homage to Salten's book.
You may be disappointed, because there is no really a plot in it (this is according to Salten's book too; it is more a collection of incidents, that enabled the young fawn to learn the profound lessons which in time made him the wisest deer in the forest). It may be boring for some people when they saw it for the first time. But if you submerge in it, you will explore a whole new world. So forget all about story lines and plots, common in almost all movies. Let delve yourself by the gorgeous opening scene into Bambi's world! Align your expectations to that of the young fawn. It may be look so mundane, when Bambi starts to discover the world around him. The flowers, the rain, the other animals, but every new discovery is a revelation. It is the same adventure, that all of us have experienced in our childhood.
Later, the world starts to reveal his somber side. The first time on the meadow, when Bambi must run away from the hunters. The first fun in the wintertime turned into the danger of starvation for the deer. And then, right after the first fresh spring grass evoke new hope, follows on of the most iconic scenes in movie history. It is a perfect off camera-scene and the turn point of the whole film, a symbol for the end of childhood and innocence for our young hero. For many young children (and for me too, when i was 5 or 6 years old and saw "Bambi" for the first time) this seminal scene was the first experience, that the world can be very cruel... it took more than a half century, before Disney dared a similar scene in "The Lion King" again.
"Bambi" was often criticized as an "anti hunting movie". But is this true? No. Felix Salten, author of the book "Bambi", was a hunter too Perhaps only a hunter that is common with all the animals around him can wrote such a penetrating and deep story. The whole story was told trough the eyes of the animals. Man was not a typical villain with a goal, i.e. to conquer the world, to be the king or something else. Man was more like a deadly force majeure, a storm, a volcano or an earthquake, and his acting was a riddle for the limited minds of the forest creatures, and when Disney decided to let Man unseen in the whole movie, he strengthen the feeling of a dark menace.
"Bambi" did not need a common plot nor need it sophisticated dialogs too. The story was primary told with music, colors, light and impressionistic color-shifting to depict Bambi's inner feelings rather than words. Bambi's forest is a powerful and truth, yet poetic and ethereal interpretation of the forests of our dreams...and sometimes of our nightmares, too. "Bambi" connecting art and poetry with reality in a way that has never seen before and never seen again. It is a movie that follows his own rules, a awesome work of art, that is comparable to Mozart's compositions or to the paintings of Leonardo da Vinci!
"Bambi" gives the most honest, gritty portrayal of the full range of art, poetry and emotion in the history of cinema. It moves you, it let you laugh, it let you cry, it let you fear, it gives you hope. It is a film about friendship and the strength of character, and about the spirit of life!
There never has and never will be another film like "Bambi", it is unique and timeless. Walt Disney himself always said, that "Bambi" is his favorite of all his movies. I'm fully agree with Walt: "Bambi" is an immortal classic and one of the most important films of all time!