Teeth, 400 Blows

Pretty good week, now relaxing on a Saturday in between General Conference, reading a bit, doing a bit of homework.  This last week at school we had to sort out a huge pile of teeth, when I first saw the plate they were on I thought it was pasta or something.  There is nothing worse than thinking something looks tasty and then realizing that is is actually the last thing in the world you would ever want to eat.  Bleeeccchhhh.
Other than that, we have been doing Anatomy and a bit of Physiology.  I just took an Anatomy class over the summer and am feeling pretty good about that material.
Last night for the week's Criterion movie I watched Francios Traffaut's 1959 "The 400 Blows".  It was probably my favorite out of the films from the collection so far, would give it a full recommendation to anyone.  There aren't many movies that do adolescence in an honest way, in fact, the only other movie I can think of that really gets it right in my opinion was "Where the Wild Things Are".  Even the brief moment's of happiness Antoine experiences feel queasy and uncomfortable.  This is not a blurry look back at childhood like "A Christmas Story", or even like last week's movie "Amarcord."  The experience is pretty much painful, confusing, and frustrating.
I'm not saying that I identify with all the actions of the protagonist, I think my childhood was a pretty comfortable place to be.  There was none of the destructive nature of Antoine in me, but there definitely existed the confusion trying to figure out the world, and I definitely felt that adults were usually incomprehensible.  Everything seems unfair, and emotions are a roller coaster.  Natalie says that when she was younger she remembers thinking that her feelings were "too big for her body".  I think that is a great description of the way most kids feel but can't describe.  Here were some of my favorite scenes:
-I liked the part where Antoine and his friend skip school and go on that spinning ride.  We had something like that at the Alaska State Fair called the Gravitron.  I used to love it as a kid, the idea of being weightless in any way was so exciting.  Sticking onto the wall was like heaven.  Now that I'm an adult, it's the last thing on earth I would ever want to subject myself to.  I think that is somehow a great metaphor for the film and how the adults and Antoine are each ciphers to each other.  Also, the dizziness and disorientation of the ride just feels like childhood.
-The most heartbreaking stuff were all directly shown from Antoine's point of view, such as him overhearing his parents fight about him and getting in trouble at school for the plagiarism or Balzac.  It's one of those things, because you know the whole story, and the intentions, you can identify with the child more than the adults.  In real life you may not sympathize as much with the delinquent, but because you travel through the entire movie with Antoine, you ONLY really feel for him.
-Not much to say about the last shots of the movie, except that they were amazing.
Next week I'll be watching Beauty and the Beast.  Not the Disney version.