Shocking Truth Revealed: Adults, Not Kids, Are the Real Trouble!

“Armand” is a film set entirely in a sprawling Norwegian elementary school on the eve of summer vacation, focusing on an incident between two students. However, children are conspicuously absent from the narrative. They exist only as images in old class photos, voices on the phone, or shadowy figures in bed, but never as actual characters in the story, instead serving as the drama’s focus rather than its actors.

Through this intentional absence, writer-director Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel, with an exceptional performance by Renate Reinsve, dissects a scandal and the family at its core. More importantly, he highlights how discussions about the dangers facing modern children often overlook the true culprits: adults.

In the wake of a “sexual deviation” accusation that leads to a lengthy and tense meeting between the parents of two boys, “Armand,” recently debuted in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival, underscores that the incident’s details matter less to the adults than their personal interests. School authorities work to keep the situation under wraps, while the mothers of Armand and Jon, played by Reinsve and Ellen Dorrit Petersen respectively, engage in their own heated conflict. This battle is more intense than typical suburban rivalry, with neither mother able to prioritize their sons’ welfare.

Not About Bad Mothers

But “Armand,” the work of Ingmar Bergman and Liv Ullmann’s grandson, is not simply a tale of poor parenting. Rather, the movie suggests that concerns about a child’s safety often serve as a mask or tool for adults’ personal and political aims. This concept is subtly addressed in the German Oscar-nominated film “The Teacher’s Lounge,” which indirectly tackles how children often become the scapegoats in moral panics.

Today, we live in a time fraught with anxiety about the youth, often culminating in attempts to control their exposure to various aspects of life, from social media to education. Yet, every generation has grappled with new forms of expression, and each has experienced pushback from the adults of their time. It’s a cycle that repeats itself with each new generation.

A Different Perspective

In contrast, British filmmaker Andrea Arnold offers a different approach in her film “Bird,” featured in the main competition. The film follows a 12-year-old protagonist who uses her smartphone to document her life, highlighting the potential for technology to serve as a tool for self-expression and communication. Arnold’s film suggests that if we gave children the space to explore life in their own way, they might surprise us with their resilience and moral courage.

Similarly, Agathe Riedinger’s “Wild Diamond” refuses to critique young social media influencers, instead choosing to focus on the struggle and determination of a 19-year-old girl seeking fame and fortune. The film suggests that achieving popularity is a hard-earned skill, requiring effort and persistence.

The Real Issue

The films “Armand,” “Bird,” and “Wild Diamond,” along with Rungano Nyoni’s dark comedy “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl,” all reflect a shared frustration towards the hypocrisy of adults professing concern for children while contributing to the very societal issues they claim to protect them from.

When children are taught to prepare for gun violence instead of adults advocating for gun control, when “influencer” and “reality star” are seen as more viable career paths than “teacher” or “journalist,” when owning a home and starting a family seems like a distant dream due to economic hardships, it’s hard to accept the argument that sharing dance videos or clips from TV shows on social media is the real problem.

The only moral panic we should be having is one directed at ourselves, as illustrated by the opening scene in “Armand” where a child’s drawing depicts bombs raining down on a family next to their home.