The Japanese movie ‘Helen the Baby Fox’ is surprisingly more life-affirming than expected, bearing in mind that ‘School Days with a Pig’ from the same country kind of romanticised and rationalised death in terms of slaughter: https://moonpointer.com/new/2009/04/bittersweet-school-days-with-a-pig A baby fox discovered alone in the wild to be blind and deaf is adopted and nursed instead of put down by a vet, who came to realise that it’s better to live fully than to kill abruptly, that life is always worth the trouble.
The fox brings joy to the boy who found him, and the boy brings joy to the fox too. Within the short life of the fox, their relationship made each other better beings in terms of character. They learn to be more brave, patient and loving. If such is the case for a baby fox and a boy, much more to say for us human adults. Let’s make our relationships with one another, including other beings meaningful and worthwhile!
One troubling part of the film though, shows the boy feeding pieces of an anonymous animal’s meat to Helen. Life is worth the trouble, but let’s do our best to minimise troubling other lives while sustaining ours, because others’ lives are worthy too!