Stolen innocence

Rating: 8/10 (22 October 2011)

The sad days of France during WWII take a new meaning, as a Jewish mother, in order to spare her young son of the horrors of the times, decides to send him to a catholic boarding school, where the local Carmelite priests welcomed, and protected, some of these unfortunate children. It was not an easy for Jean Bonnet, the newly arrived boy to settle into a world that was totally foreign to him.
One thing becomes clear immediately, Jean was a smart kid, way ahead of his classmates. He was an easy object of ridicule because of his introspective nature. At the same time, Jean attracted the attention of Julien Quentin, who went on to become Jean's best friend, and whose life was touched by the incident he lived at the school.
Life in the boarding school was not a happy one for many of the children. Being away from family took a heavy toll on most of them, while for others was a great time to be away in a somewhat safe environment. Justin, who spies on Jean as he prays during the night, is the first to discover his real identity, which was a well kept secret.
In fact, Justin is quite concerned as the boys are brought to a bath house knowing Jews were not welcome. The same goes when during mass, Jean makes an attempt to receive communion from one of the priests, who clearly knew he was not catholic and passes him by without giving him the sacrament.
The film is Louis Malle's tribute to a similar incident he lived during his boyhood. It is the most autobiographical of his work, dedicated to his children. "Au revoir les enfants" is a timeless account about an era in which the horrors of the war was seen through the eyes of innocent children, totally at sea in the madness going on around them. The gloomy winter atmosphere was photographed by Renato Berta, a frequent collaborator of Mr. Malle.
The two principals do an excellent work. Gaspard Manesse who played Justine Quentin and Raphael Fejto, showed great promise, but did not go into great screen careers as one would have hoped.