Adventures of Chico
(A TALE OF THE STRANGEST FRIENDHSIP EVER KNOWN)
Plot Outline: A young boy, Chico, and his father, live in a straw hut in the Mexican flatlands. The father is a goatherd, and Chico helps his father with his chores, as well as befriending the local animals. Chico's father defends a deer family against attack by a mountain lion, and Chico raises a family of birds when the mother is killed by a coyote. One of the birds grows up to later save Chico's life, when he is approached by a deadly rattlesnake. Chico experiences more animal adventures, and learns to become a man.
***
ADVENTURES OF CHICO is a fascinating documentary-style drama depicting
life in the rural South. It is definitely the prototype for later
films of a similar stripe, such as Joseph Krumgold's highly acclaimed
AND NOW MIGUEL. And certainly CHICO and MIGUEL paved the way for Walt
Disney's successful "True-Life Adventures".
Chico and his father live in the most primitive conditions, in a
veritable straw hut in the middle of nowhere, obviously getting by
without modern amenities such as electricity, heat and telephone. It
is somewhat sobering to accept that this film documents real life in
the 20th century, as it depicts a lifestyle most of the Western World
would consider primitive, even extinct.
Filmed in rich black and white by the Woodwards, CHICO has the look
and feel of the great documentaries of yore, such as THE PLOW THAT
BROKE THE PLAINS, or THE LAND. The wildlife photography is likewise
excellent.
It is easy to see that Joseph & Helen Krumgold used CHICO as a model
when they filmed their extremely similar document of the life of a
young Latino farmer-boy, AND NOW MIGUEL, some fifteen years later.
CHICO is shot silent, and narrated by the main character, with a heavy
accent, as was AND NOW MIGUEL.
Krumgold went on to novelize his screenplay from AND NOW MIGUEL, and
the popular children's book has won awards and general acclaim
throughout the years. It is ironic that the book was taken from a
film, as opposed to the usual progression, and that the film was
essentially a remake of an earlier, even more obscure film!
The slight anthropomorphism given some of the animals in CHICO must
have begun in the 1930s, with the myriad jungle-themed exploitationªdocumentaries depicting wildlife from a tritely civilized perspective. Others like Disney took the clothing of animals in human psychology to absurdist extremes, to mostly malefic effect.
In CHICO, this dramatic conceit leads to a most effective, yet somehow
dishonest, finale in which Chico's new friend, a bird, fights a
rattlesnake to death in order to protect his human pal.
Scenes of the valiant bird fighting the killer serpent are well-shot
and thrilling, but one still senses that parts of it at least must
have been staged, and at any rate the filmmakers could have turned off
the camera and separated the natural enemies at any point. Also,
scenes of the bird running to Chico and cooing to warn him seem a bit
contrived, albeit charming.
Chico is shown as a gentle, kindly soul; he takes great care in
raising a gaggle of birds after a coyote kills their mom. Thus, it is
somewhat disarming when Chico later plays with some Armadillos by
swinging them by their tails.
ADVENTURES OF CHICO is a powerful and engaging docu-drama which
deserves a well-earned revival.
Video/DVD availability: VHS (Nostalgia Family Video, Video Yesteryear, oop)
(1937, U.S./Mexico) Woodward Productions 53/56/60 minutes
Music: Dr. Edward Kilenyi
Photographed, Edited, Produced and Directed by Horace & Stacy Woodward
