Educational Media Reviews Online

For young children, the actions and behaviors of adults must, at times, be utterly incomprehensible. Lacking the experience, emotional maturity, and vocabulary to understand and process what is going on around them, some children may wish for not only more clarity but something else entirely.

An only child, six-year old Armonia lives with Julia and Pablo in what appears to be a loosely structured hippie community in Argentina’s Patagonia region. Living off the grid to escape the urban rot of the city and espousing a nebulous ideology of vegetarianism, survivalism, Marxism, drug use, and feminism, Julia and Pablo alternately parent and neglect the young child in their care. Although the beautifully photographed environment appears to be idyllic, the consequences and stress of this lifestyle choice takes its toll on all the participants. Left to her own devices much of the time, Armonia longs for someone to come and take her away…potentially to a place that makes more sense.

The semi-autobiographical film is the work of Argentinian screenwriter and first-time director Arpajou who successfully captures a child’s perspective on the inexplicable. Similar to The Florida Project (2017), I Girl is a distinct and haunting perspective on contemporary childhood.

A study guide is available on the Pragda website. Recommended for sociology, child development, and foreign languages and culture courses.