The Magic Balloon
The story revolves around Mariam, a young girl who, for some reason, cannot walk
and lives in a refugee camp. She spends her days reading and wishing she could
leave the camp and travel the world. One day, a man from the city comes with his
truck bringing all sorts of gifts for the children. Everyone gets a cool toy except for
Mariam, who because of her disability, arrives late to the queue and ends up getting
nothing. The man, upon seeing her so sad, looks in his pockets and finds an old
unused yellow balloon. At first, she was disappointed but then accepts this gifts and
blows the balloon up with all her mighty strength. The balloon turns out to be this
shiny yellow color and Mariam just falls in love with it. She spends most of her days
with it attached. She befriends the balloon and even reads to it all the books she
likes about the different countries of the world. When she goes to bed, she hears
someone calling her name. She wakes up to find that the balloon is alive and can
talk. The balloon asks Mariam to let him go so he could travel the world and see all
those countries he saw in her books. She agrees under one condition; that he comes
back after every trip to tell her about the country he has seen. And so, begins the
balloon’s adventure. He comes back after every trip and starts telling Mariam about
his adventure around the world. China, France, Brazil, Australia, Egypt, Jordan etc.
This is where the film changes style and becomes an entertaining musical segment
of stop-motion elements that introduce traditional and cultural aspects of the country
in subject.
However, after every trip, the balloon gets smaller and smaller as he gets caught up
in wires, trees, birds and even having rocks thrown at him by some other kids.
Mariam feels sad upon waking up to discovering her balloon has completely blown
out and has no longer the ability to speak nor fly. Her mother gives her another
balloon to cheer her up. Mariam decides to give the balloon to another boy and they
both start reading a book about China.
Director - Sandra Dajani
