Water Path for a Fish
Summary: This is an original short from an obscure Latin American film company that has elements of a modern day fairy tale. A young boy in a very poor town finds and rescues a small fish.
Warnings: There are two brief moments that an adult might catch, but it is unlikely that a child would - one is a scene of a couple asleep in bed and it’s fairly clear they are unclothed under the covering sheet (the glimpse seems to be more to show how hot it is rather than anything inappropriate). The second is that the main character pauses and glances into a doorway where a funeral appears to be going on.
Opinion: This is a cute original short with upbeat, Latin music and no dialogue. I found the cultural differences between my own neighborhood and that shown in this film provided an strong contrast without it being the main focus of the story. The poverty was vital to the story, but nothing was preachy or inviting pity. It just shows life as matter of fact.
My children did not appreciate this short film, and perhaps other children will find it boring as well, but for families looking for something different for a short diversion, this one isn’t bad, and at only 7 minutes long, it won’t be a waste of a huge amount of resources to check it out. However, if you aren’t a film lover or can’t easily find it, then it’s not worth hunting down.
Sequels/Remakes: None.
Educational Value: 1 out of 3 stars. While this does show a peek into a world of poverty, I don’t think that this is enough to consider this educational.
Cultural value: 1 out of 5 stars. Considering the lack of number of ratings from either IMDB or anywhere else, I can safely say that practically no one seems to have watched this little film and it has had zero cultural impact.
Age rating: I placed this as appropriate for ages 4 and up. I do not believe this is a preschool-only short film, but rather that there is nothing that would prevent young children from watching this. Older children might appreciate the subtle cultural depictions more.