Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987)

This film Directedby Louis Malle is an adaptation on a touching true story. Set in France at the time of World War 2 it follows a young boys encounters with a jewish boy that joins his convent. At first it was a bit confusing and the plot took a while to get going. I liked the way that we find out about Bonnets religion in a suptle way without making it too obvious. The plot as a whole is touching as you follow a friendship form through simple things like books and music. The fact that the film was in French helped me concentrat on it more as I actually had to watch it and pay attention to understand the film rather than just switching off and not paying attention like I sometimes do in other films. The black and white filming helped set the scene as it showed that the environment was dull and not very exciting for the boys. It helped portray the grim nature of the story. I feel that the acting was excellent as the boys were only very young and managed to show the full emotion in and feeling of their characters, especially Quentin at the end when he sees his friend for the last time, it was obvious exactly what he was feeling. The director did a very good job on this film as though it was a very complicated story he potrayed it effectivley without overdoing it. Th epace was just right as fast cut would be innapropriate. The slow moving suptle camera movment realy added dept to the film. I would recommend this film to anyone that wants to get a feel of subtitled films. Its a good film to learn about what it was really like at time in France.