Movie Recommendation: Au Revoir Les Enfants

By Got Shares? - K_Yew | July 6, 2009, 8:40 am

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I just watched Au Revoir Les Enfants, a 1987 docu-drama about a Catholic boys' school in Nazi-occupied France. Many WWII films are melodramatic or make the war into a typical American tale where the good guys win.

In contrast, Au Revoir Les Enfants avoids all melodrama. Its beauty comes from its stunning realism of the war and its victims. Au revoir gains a lasting imprint in the viewer's psyche because of its understated simplicity. I recommend the film. (4 out of 5 stars)

Bonus: if you haven't seen the Hobart Shakespeareans (2004), you are missing out. It's easily one of the best documentaries I've ever seen. The documentary follows an elementary school teacher and his class of inner-city, immigrant students as they learn Shakespeare, Mark Twain, and other famous authors. Special appearance by Sir Ian McKellen.
About Got Shares? - K_Yew

Bottom line about the way I think: we are born the same, but create patterns over time based on our lives that make an open mind less of a possibility. The key is to try to place yourself in different situations as much as possible to shock your system and force it to think differently; otherwise, the brain's natural course will be to calcify the patterns it picks up from limited local experience and the media, instead of reality.
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