The Wild Child (1970)

The Wild Child (L’enfant sauvage)
Directed by Francois Truffaut
Written by Francois Truffaut and Jean Gruault from a memoir and report by Jean Itard
1970/France
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Instant

Le Dr Jean Itard: Canton of St. Sernin. A boy, 11 or 12 years old, naked and apparently deaf and dumb while searching for acorns and roots to eat was caught in the Caune woods by three hunters as he was about to climb a tree to escape from them. Taken to a nearby hamlet, I could examine him and establish the degree of intelligence and the nature of ideas in an adolescent deprived since childhood of all education because he had lived apart from his species.

It is 1794, villagers find a naked boy in the woods. He cannot communicate or walk. They decide he has been raised by wild animals and turn him over to Dr. Jean Itard (played by Truffaut). The doctor and his housekeeper set about civilizing the boy. They determine that he can make sounds and hear but does not know a language.

Progress is slow. But patience pays off.

I had been wanting to see this and was sort of underwhelmed. It’s not bad just not what I was expecting.