Les... borgnes sont rois

An old gent returns home one afternoon to find, as usual, that his elderly mother is obsessing over her dog. It's quite an aggressive little creature with huge great teeth that it readily brandishes in his direction forcing a ritual retreat - without any dinner! She summons him presently but that's just to take it walkies and even that isn't without it's hassles as this mutt has an habit of peeing on people's cars and tripping up blind folks! That gives him an idea... Next day, same old same old but he decides to don a pair of dark glasses and pretend he can't see either. This proves really quite effective for a day or two as the erstwhile irritable public start to show him a little (misplaced) kindness and even the dog appears to calm down a bit... until it escapes! He now has to be escorted home trepidatiously hoping it's there but will his new disguise just confuse his landlady and the attendant postman? It's a simply and light-heartedly produced film, this, that shows us a man who cuts quite a sad, hen-pecked, figure who clearly isn't as important at home as the dog! I wonder how many others homes this might resonate in?

With an impecable charming humor, "One-Eyed Men Are Kings" presents the amusing tale of a man (Paul Préboist) who after a street incident revolving walking around with his mom's dog decides to pretend to be blind to attract the sympathy of strangers who are charmed by his friendly "guide dog". An innocent walk in the park becomes the starting point for lovely conversations with the people around them and he becomes the center of attention with his new friends. But obviously the fun won't last long for this odd man.

I know it can be viewed as completely distasteful in today's terms of awareness on minorities and also the use of disabled appropriation but the film is so full of charm, innocence and humor that you have to take into consideration the times in which this was made and the way it was made with a silent film style, just music and no dialogue, and a stellar performance by the lead actor; and with all of those elements combined the movie does not become offensive or prejudicial as many other cheap comedies tried to be funny while mocking disabilities.

Although I like the silent film format which perfectly suits such a universal story for all audiences, I think some bits of dialogue would benefit the movie since there's some moments in between where there's a cloud of mystery surrounding situations and characters (like the man's talks with his mother and the landlord; or the apparently funny story he tells to his comrades at the park where everybody is laughing to his story. I was curious in knowing what it was all about). But those are minor complaints of mine, it doesn't affect your enjoyment and it doesn't hurt the experience. Oscar winning in the Best Short Film category. 9/10.