'Helium', 5 reasons why the Disney Pixar film nicely explains Trump's US

The film's protagonist is Elio, a child who realises his 'dream' by finding himself abducted by aliens. He discovers that, millions and millions of light years away, there are essentially two political models facing each other: the empire of the Hylurgs, violent and unscrupulous, and the Communiverse, an eternal parliamentary assembly in which the leaders of all galaxies peacefully coexist. On the one hand, there is power politics, the same language as Putin, the approach that surfaces in Trump's rantings about Greenland and Canada; on the other, a supranational body that could be the UN, if only it really worked. Lord Grigon, Lord of the Hylurg, wants to be admitted to the Communiverse, by hook or by crook. He seeks legitimacy, but does not get it because it is his political values that put him out of the 'good parlour' of the more evolved alien species.

Elio makes himself welcome in the Comuniverse by pretending to be the 'leader of the Earth'. At the basis of his improbable 'political career' there is, in short, fake news. Later, when he clones himself so as not to be noticed on planet Earth and when he bluffs his way into negotiations with the Hylurg lord, he will continue to practise lying as a political method. Fake news and bluff: it is a bit like the authors of Elio talking to us so that Trump will understand.

Elio is a child, we said it. A difficult child who has lost his parents, gets into trouble when he can and sometimes attacks. Yet, having landed in the Communiverse and been welcomed by Lord Grigon, he is without much hesitation taken for the leader of the Earth. As if to say: certain dynamics of international politics that seem complex to us and have tremendous effects on the lives of countless defenceless civilians are actually reducible to brawls between kids.

Helium has to negotiate with Lord Grigon to avert the possibility of him gaining entry to the Commonverse by force of arms, and what does he do? He procures a bargaining chip. "He 'kidnaps' his son Glordon (who clearly agrees to the deal) to negotiate from a position of greater strength. And here again we see much of the Trump administration's understanding of international relations.

And here we come to perhaps the deeper meaning of Elio. It was said that Disney would abandon its Woke ambitions to conform to the dictates of prevailing Trumpism. This film (coincidentally directed by three directors: one of Mexican descent, one of Chinese descent, one of Armenian descent), fortunately, does quite the opposite: it criticises Trumpism from the point of view of Disney's policy all about 'diversity' that we have seen in recent years. Saving the universe will be a Hispanic orphan living alone with his aunt, helped by his African-American friend Bryce and radio help from Nerds around the world. Just as the more mischievous will not fail to note that the 'bully' child is called Caleb. A Jewish name that, these days, does not go unnoticed. Summing up: if you missed it, catch it because it deserves it.