FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Louis Malle - Au Revoir Les Enfants (engl. subt.) 

This is the story of a suspicious friendship at a Catholic boys' school. It is the story of Julien (Gaspard Manesse) and Jean (Raphael Fejto). It is also a story about how carefree children are when they run down the stairs of the school or secretly read under the blanket with the flashlight at night. Thus Louis Malle evokes the everyday life of a French boarding school in 1944. While the lives of these children are rushing forward full of energy, we unfortunately know: some of them have to die. Julien Quentin and Jean Bonnet are both twelve years old. The teachers and priests in the school really respect the boys. Julien believes that the children are happy in the boarding school. One day after Christmas a new boy comes to school. It is Jean. Julien and Jean do what kids of that age do. They scuffle and laugh and make friends. They both love to read. After a whole series of omens so subtle that no one else notices them, Julien learns that Jean is keeping a secret. Isn't it surprising how Jean does NOT answer all the questions about his family? Besides, he never prays with the other boys and does not join the choir. Then Julien finds a book called Kippelstein (you can hardly decipher it). It belongs to Jean. Probably Julien has never met a Jew. He knows nothing about them. "Why do we actually hate the Jews"; he asks his older brother. He gives a simple answer: "They are smarter than us and they killed Jesus". Strange, Julien thinks. Didn't the Romans kill Jesus? During a piano lesson with the beautiful Davenne (Irene Jacob), Julien understands what his brother means. He himself fails. Then it's Jean's turn, who plays beautifully. We'll look at Julien's face in close-up afterwards. He's thinking. He thinks it all over again. And he decides to keep Jean's secret. And on the outside? Marshal Petain's collaborating French government has lost popularity. An American invasion is imminent. By the way, the Nazis are not necessarily drawn as monsters by Louis Malle - he doesn't make it that easy for us. In one restaurant scene they even treat an old man very decently. And in an eerie forest scene, in which Julien and Jean search for a treasure until the sun goes down, they are even picked up by the Germans. The Nazis wrap the boys in warm blankets and notice that they are Bavarians and also Catholics. The two never talk about Julien keeping Jean's secret. Once Julien asks his friend if he is afraid? Yes, Julien asks his friend. All the time. Anyone who reads a bit more about the film will learn that it is based on war memories of Louis Malle. Malle himself went to a boarding school like the one in the film. Like so many other French institutions, Louis Malle's boarding school took in Jewish children under false names. Once the Germans raided this school and arrested three children and the director. We experience this scene in the film. It is the priest who turns to the children who are being taken away: "Au revoir les enfants" Louis Malle is not only a pioneer of the Nouvelle Vague, he even started earlier than his comrades-in-arms. Strictly scientifically speaking, there is no need to include him in the inner circle of the Nouvelle Vague. Be that as it may. He revolutionized film technology by riding through Paris on a bicycle with a camera mounted on it. I stole exactly this technique from him last week by riding my bike through Berlin and filming with my mobile phone. For our bar film that is currently being made - directed by Lea and Katrin. If my shaky mobile phone film is taken, I can claim that I stole the idea from Louis Malle. And what role might Malle himself have played in the film? Is he the model for Julien? In the film Julien makes a terrible mistake. Unintentionally. It's one of those mistakes you'll never forgive yourself for. Never! Julien burns with shame and remorse. But Jean calms him down. "The Germans would have caught me anyway." We see Julien in a long close-up. Inevitably, one must think of the end of "The 400 Blows". Then we hear the original voice of Louis Malle himself: More than 40 years have passed; explains Malle. But he will always remember that January morning until the day he dies.