SHOULD I READ IT? Au Revoir, Les Enfants (1987)

                “Au Revoir, Les Enfants” (“Goodbye, Children”) is an autobiographical film by Louis Malle (“Lacombe, Lucien”) who wrote, produced, and directed the film based on his experiences as a young Frenchman in WWII.  The movie was a critical smash and was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Foreign Film and Best Original Screenplay.  It won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.  It was a box office success.

                The movie is set in occupied France in 1943-44.  A boy named Julien (Gaspard Manesse) is shipped off to a Catholic boarding school.  A bed-wetter, Julien is not exactly thrilled to go.  He fits in well, however, and is high on the pecking order among the boys.  Three new boys arrive, including Jean (Raphael Fejto).  At first, Julien does not get along with Jean partly because he supplants Julien as the star pupil.  The movie depicts the typical school boy hazing.  Before long, Julien discovers that Jean is a Jew who is being given refuge in the school by the headmaster Pere Jean.  Julien keeps the secret and he and Jean become friends.  And everyone lives happily ever after, not.

                I have to admit I do not get the acclaim for the movie.  To me, it was nothing special.  In fact, I found it boring and predictable.  Spoiler alert, the only thing positive I can say about it is it is based on a true story and that story is not laughably enhanced.  Louis Malle was sent to a boarding school during the war and one day the Gestapo arrived and took away three Jewish students and a Jewish teacher.  They also arrested the headmaster Pere Jacques.  Pere Jacques is a historical figure who died soon after the Mauthausen concentration camp was liberated.  He was later granted the Israeli honor of Righteous Among the Nations.

GRADE  =  C