Mondo (1995)

Mondo is a homeless young boy, with a big smile, who wanders around Nice looking for food and a place to sleep.

Director:

Tony Gatlif

Writers:

Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio (novel) (as Jean-Marie G. Le Clezio), Tony Gatlif

Stars:

Ovidiu Balan, Philippe Petit, Pierrette Fesch

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ovidiu Balan	...	Mondo
Philippe Petit	...	The Magician
Pierrette Fesch	...	Thi Chin
Jerry Smith	...	Dadi
Schahla Aalam	...	The Magician's Friend
Maurice Maurin	...	Giordan the fisherman
Catherine Brun	...	Church Soloist (Elevator Woman)
Ange Gobbi	...	The Postman
Jean Ferrier	...	The Chief of Police
Marcel Lemuet	...	The Birdman
Nadia Cutaia	...	The Baker Woman
Pierre Klouman	...	The Popcorn Man
Georges Carlo	...	Family at the Supermarket
Sylvie Fadeuilh	...	Family at the Supermarket
Benjamin Massi	...	Family at the Supermarket

Storyline

A fable unfolds. One summer day, a boy of about ten appears on the streets of Nice - no family, no possessions, no schooling, but with a brilliant smile. Mondo's most at home in gardens, fields, and at the seashore. The bustle of the city can seem to overwhelm him. He has good survival instincts, running from police and from threatening adults, and he is looking for a family. Over time, people come to know him - he helps out a street magician, befriends an old man who keeps doves in his suitcase, and finds a mother, herself an outsider. That smile is always at hand. Yet, no vagabond child sits well with the authorities. Can Nice keep this treasure of the spirit?

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Plot Keywords:

boy | street magician | swimming | bicycle | beggar | 

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Genres:

Drama

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User Reviews

The best adaptation ever... that isn't one

Throughout this movie experience - which moved me to tears several times - I had an extraordinary feeling that I was watching an adaptation of "Le Petit Prince" ("The Little Prince") by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Even though the film is set in a different time and place, and its main characters and plot line are not really in sync with the story of a boy from another world, there is, at the same time, a strange affinity here with de Saint-Exupéry's timeless classic. As we watch the peculiar odyssey of a little Mondo - a boy with no home, no family, no past, no memory almost, and no real skill apart from smiling wide joyful grins and opening his heart to strangers - we have no other choice but to fall in love with this little homeless adventurer, this modern Gavroche, who seems almost mythical in the way he turns up in the midst of people's lives to touch them, move them, perhaps change them - for a couple of days, or forever.

Heartily recommended to all those who embrace cinema as a way of channeling emotions, rather than notions and philosophical ideas, through images. "Toujours beaucoup".

Details

Official Sites:

Shadow Distribution

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

30 May 1997 (USA)

Also Known As:

モンド

Filming Locations:

Menton, Alpes-Maritimes, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

K.G. Productions, Canal+, Centre National du Cinéma et de l'Image Animée

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min

Color:

Color