So much of this film is wonderful. The acting, dialog and writing are very good and I liked the movie very much. However, when the movie ended, it seemed to be missing a few things--and felt a tiny bit incomplete.
The film begins during WWII in German occupied France. A Jewish family has been moving about the country and keeping a low profile in order to avoid problems with the fascist government. However, the little boy (who looks about five) has a tendency to get noticed and the parents are worried that his antics will endanger them all. So, they make the heartbreaking decision to have him live with a Catholic family and have him pose as a Christian. The only problem with this plan is that the elderly couple, though very good in most ways and very willing to care for the child, have no idea the kid is a Jew--and the old man hates Jews! This was not all that rare a thing at that time, but it was interesting that the couple had no idea the kid was Jewish--yet they came to love him as their own. In particular, the very anti-Semitic old man really came to love the kid--an oddly ironic situation. It's funny, but on one hand the old man is like Archie Bunker from "All in the Family"--full of hateful prejudices and very set in his ways. Yet, strangely, it was hard to hate the guy--he was often quite sweet and a real character--played wonderfully by veteran Swiss actor Michel Simon (who was at his absolute best here). Plus they did, inadvertently, save the kid's life.
What bothered me is that there was never any revelation or resolution in the film. At one moment, the kid was living with the couple and listening to the anti-Semitic rants of the old man (and by this point, the kid also began to hate Jews). The next, the war was over and the kid is instantly shown leaving with his parents. Did the man ever learn that this kid he loved was a Jew? Did his sick views ever moderate or change? How difficult was it for the child to leave or the couple to let him go? Did the kid have any problems reconciling his love for the man yet dealing with the ugliness of his prejudices? All this is left unanswered, as the film literally looks like a chunk of it was missing at the end. Because of this, the film loses a couple points and left me feeling frustrated--I had really loved it up until then. But with no resolution, this can't be a perfect film.
By the way, this film was the first full-length film by Claude Berri. It's on a DVD from Criterion that also includes Berri's first short, the Oscar-winning "The Chicken". A very, very good package.
The film begins during WWII in German occupied France. A Jewish family has been moving about the country and keeping a low profile in order to avoid problems with the fascist government. However, the little boy (who looks about five) has a tendency to get noticed and the parents are worried that his antics will endanger them all. So, they make the heartbreaking decision to have him live with a Catholic family and have him pose as a Christian. The only problem with this plan is that the elderly couple, though very good in most ways and very willing to care for the child, have no idea the kid is a Jew--and the old man hates Jews! This was not all that rare a thing at that time, but it was interesting that the couple had no idea the kid was Jewish--yet they came to love him as their own. In particular, the very anti-Semitic old man really came to love the kid--an oddly ironic situation. It's funny, but on one hand the old man is like Archie Bunker from "All in the Family"--full of hateful prejudices and very set in his ways. Yet, strangely, it was hard to hate the guy--he was often quite sweet and a real character--played wonderfully by veteran Swiss actor Michel Simon (who was at his absolute best here). Plus they did, inadvertently, save the kid's life.
What bothered me is that there was never any revelation or resolution in the film. At one moment, the kid was living with the couple and listening to the anti-Semitic rants of the old man (and by this point, the kid also began to hate Jews). The next, the war was over and the kid is instantly shown leaving with his parents. Did the man ever learn that this kid he loved was a Jew? Did his sick views ever moderate or change? How difficult was it for the child to leave or the couple to let him go? Did the kid have any problems reconciling his love for the man yet dealing with the ugliness of his prejudices? All this is left unanswered, as the film literally looks like a chunk of it was missing at the end. Because of this, the film loses a couple points and left me feeling frustrated--I had really loved it up until then. But with no resolution, this can't be a perfect film.
By the way, this film was the first full-length film by Claude Berri. It's on a DVD from Criterion that also includes Berri's first short, the Oscar-winning "The Chicken". A very, very good package.