Helium

There is something quite unsentimentally touching about this story of the young “Alfred” (Pelle Falk Krusbæk). He is a perfectly lucid, but wheelchair bound, lad who is terminally ill in a Danish hospital and who sits in the garden daydreaming with his toy aeroplane. One afternoon he meets the handyman “Enzo” (Casper Crump) sitting on a bench, who imparts some of the fruits of his vivid imagination to the young lad leaving him enjoying some simple adventures in a land of helium-fuelled fantasy. There does appear to be an absence of parents here, and so “Enzo” begins to bond more emotionally with his new friend and as “Alfred” enters a more intensively caring environment, he has to enlist the help of his nurse (Marijana Jankovic) to stay in contact. There are no happy endings or miraculous cures here, but the conclusion is almost as fitting and surely must bring a lump to your throat. It’s a film that reminds us of just how important joy is in life, especially as it’s ebbing away, and there are two performances here that show the importance of care being more than a bed and some pills.