Children’s understanding of their environment and trauma in cinema
We tend to believe that children don’t have the ability to understand their surroundings or that they are too young to remember any traumatic experience. In reality, children are highly sensitive to the world around them, they notice and feel changes. They may not fully understand the causes and consequences of traumatic experiences, as trauma evolves as their cognitive and emotional capacities develop, but they feel them deeply. Developmental psychology shows that children interpret events through limited knowledge and emotional tools, often relying on imagination, attachment and memory to protect themselves. Sometimes “not understanding” is a powerful coping mechanism to help them survive. What changes with age is their ability to explain, process and cope. Here’s a list of films that showcase trauma not as a single disruptive event, but as a lifelong narrative that unfolds gradually in the mind and memory…
Rita
Summer of 1984. Spain is thrilled due to the European football championship, but Rita is not really interested in all of that. Rita, at just seven years old, is starting to perceive more and more things about her environment and realize that something’s wrong at home with her dad. At this developmental stage, Rita senses instability and fear but retains her childhood desires, hopes, and coping behaviors. The trauma is visible not in shouted scenes of violence, but in the pauses, the silence and the “off-screen” impacts. Rita’s world and her responses illustrate the complexity of childhood awareness: she feels, she reacts, and she begins to understand, but only partially, capturing the liminal space between innocence and insight. Through the child’s POV, the movie succeeds in showcasing issues of gender-based violence, domestic violence, and toxic relationships.
The Florida Project
The Florida Project is one of those rare films that feels less like a movie and more like you’re peeking into someone’s real life. Set in a budget motel just outside the gates of Disney World, it contrasts the promise of the “happiest place on Earth” with the harsh reality facing families living on the edge of homelessness. The film is told largely from the perspective of children. For them, the cracked purple motel walls become a kingdom, the parking lots become playgrounds and every day is an adventure. The kids’ joy isn’t sugar-coated though, it’s a defense mechanism against circumstances they can’t fully comprehend. Mooney (the 6-year-old protagonist) senses stress and is able to see the consequences (eviction, shouting, police), but not the reasons behind them. Her mother, Halley, though loving, is unstable. So, Bobby, the hotel manager, becomes the protector who recognizes children’s vulnerability better than their caregivers. All in all, The Florida Project is a fantastic movie if you are into the topics of poverty, social neglect and instability.
Aftersun
Aftersun is a quiet, aching film about memory, parenthood and the things we don’t see until we look back. It follows an 11-year-old girl (Sophie) on a Turkish vacation with her young father (Calum), a man struggling internally while trying to provide his daughter a joyful childhood. The storytelling is intimate and subtle, as if we’re watching moments of an old home video. Much of the emotion comes from what’s unsaid, the hidden weight behind Calum’s attempts to smile through the pain. Although Sophie doesn’t fully understand what’s going on until later, she is old enough to notice his emotional pain through his mood shifts, isolation and desperation. This movie is a great example of how trauma can be invisible in the moment but becomes deeply understood in retrospect.
Room
Room is a deeply emotional drama that explores survival, motherhood, and the power of imagination in the darkest circumstances. The story follows Joy, who has been held captive for years in a single, tiny room. Her 5-year-old son, Jack, was born there and it’s the only world he has ever known. The first half is a tense, claustrophobic portrait of confinement, while the second half shifts into a moving exploration of trauma and healing after escape. Jack’s innocent narration transforms terror into wonder. Jack’s trauma is hidden inside a lack of awareness, since he has no comparison, captivity becomes normality. He interprets danger and fear only through his mother’s emotional signals, and his healing begins only after understanding expands.
