Au revoir les enfants (1987)
won the Golden Lion at the 44th Venice Film Festival in 1987.
The film tells the story of the director's childhood experiences. In occupied France during World War II, the male protagonist studies at a mission school. The male protagonist is very naughty, often playing tricks with his classmates, and using his own jam and cook helpers to do black market transactions. One day, a new student came to the class, and everyone started to bully him, even the male lead. The male protagonist also secretly renovated the cabinet and found another name. The school was frequently raided by Germans and French police. During one search, the freshman was called away by the teacher and went into hiding, which caught the hero's attention. Later, the male protagonist learned about the Jews from his brother who was in the same school. While playing the treasure hunt, the male protagonist and the new student walked into the forest and lost their way. Fortunately, two Germans brought them back. After returning, the two became heroes, and the male protagonist began to exaggerate the experience of the two. The cook's helper brought pork food to the male protagonist, and the male protagonist distributed the food to the freshman, but the freshman refused to accept it. So, the male protagonist told the fact that the new student was Jewish. The two then scuffled, and on the following parent's day, the two also made a big shot. After the fight, the new student went to a restaurant with the male protagonist's brother and mother, and witnessed an attempt by the French police to deport Jews. For a period of time, the male protagonist and the new generation became good friends, and often read books together late at night. Meanwhile, the help cook was expelled from the school for stealing and running the black market. To get revenge on the school, he confided to the Gestapo. So, the Gestapo came to the school and arrested all the school principal and the Jews. Only one person was not found by the Germans. In the end, the school was closed, and several people who were taken away died in concentration camps one after another.
This film is a work that reflects historical reality. It shows history through the eyes of children and reflects France during World War II through the perspective of their minors. The film ends with a cruel ending after counting the moments of childhood, expressing the hero's nostalgia for the passing of childhood. At the same time, the film also reflects the state of war and the image of Germans in World War II from the perspective of children.
While the theme of the film is worth thinking about, the film itself is dull. The reason why the movie is dull is because it reflects the little things of childhood with trivial details, such as brushing teeth, washing face, listening to class, doing homework, playing games, etc. The director moved all the details of the children's school life into the film, which can be said to be "everything". Although this kind of "big and small" is of great benefit to the interpretation of the theme, it is not so for the viewer. These trivial details of life make the movie look very boring and dull, and I almost fell asleep while watching it. Hey, it's not easy to make a movie like this. Therefore, this film cannot be said to be bad, only that it is too "artistic" and requires a certain amount of concentration to appreciate it.
There is not much to say about the content of the performance of the film. Because the film has told the story very thoroughly, to put it bluntly, this film is a kind of sentimentality expressed by the director of his childhood memories. Thinking from another angle, each of us has the experience of "childhood, goodbye", or something, or a moment, or a person. When "childhood" is far away from us, we all feel the same as the hero of this film. It's just that the director's childhood was in a special period - France during World War II, which made his "childhood, goodbye" look different. If you think about it from another angle, you can actually disdain the "childhood, goodbye" of this film. Only our own "childhood, goodbye" is the most special. The reason is very simple - there is only one childhood. In short, the film that the director made with his own experience could not move me, but it moved other people, including the judges of the Venice Film Festival.
Finally, let's talk about the Germans in the film. Through the story of the movie, we can understand that the Germans are not evil, but there are also good Germans. This sets the film apart from other WWII films - there is no stereotyped vilification of Germans. To be able to do this is invaluable. Writing this reminds me of the Northeast in the 1930s. I heard the old man say that the Japanese are not bad at all... What is the truth of the truth? Only those who have experienced it will know.
The filming aspect is quite satisfactory, there is nothing unique about it, so I won't say more.
The performances of the actors in this film are very real, they are all child stars, but they have not become popular, so I won't say much. However, there is a big dragon in the film, Irène Jacob, who starred in Krzysztof Kieslowski's "Red" and "Two Flowers" heroine. Looking at the young Irène Jacob, I sighed that it is good to be young.
in conclusion. It's a nostalgic piece of self-sentimental choreography, and even if it touched other people, it didn't touch me. So, this film feels normal to me.
Sequence: 0814
Au.revoir.les.enfants.1987.BluRay.720p.AC3.x264-CHD
2012-05-19
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