François Truffaut's The Wild Child is a story of great simplicity: In 1798, a naked boy is discovered in the woods of Aveyron in southern France. He is captured, brought into society, and educated by Dr. Jean Marc Gaspard Itard (also played by Truffaut). It's sort of a twist on the Pygmalion story where a wise man educates and cultures a lower class Cockney woman. Only here the story doubles as a metaphor for the development of a child and the act of growing up. The story is approached with a sterile gaze that prevents it from being exploitative. But in some way, Truffaut still manages to endear us to the central characters. Truffaut always was fascinated by troubled youth. They reoccur again and again throughout his filmography: Antoine Doinel in The 400 Blows and the many children in Small Change immediately spring to mind. I wonder why they fascinated Truffaut so much. When compared to the other titan of the French New Wave, Jean-Luc Godard, it becomes obvious that he was much, much more interested in characters and human beings. And this film, probably more than any of his other works, was about what it meant to be human. It is a strong, fascinating drama that remains one of Truffaut's better unheard of works.
7/10
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