The Children of Paris

Paris in the summer of 1942: Eleven-year-old Joseph (Hugo Leverdez) enjoys the supposed idyll of the coming summer holidays with his family and friends, despite the fact that he has recently started wearing a Jewish star and is thus excluded from many public events and places. But his peaceful childhood is completely shattered when, on the morning of June 16, his family, along with over 13,000 other Jews, is arrested. By the thousands, the families are taken to a covered cycling stadium, where they are held for five days in inhumane conditions. Only the doctor Dr. Sheinbaum (Jean Reno) and the ambitious nurse Annette Monod (Mélanie Laurent) try to ease their suffering a little. But no one suspects that the real horror awaits all these people, including the children of Paris, until after these five days.

"The Children of Paris" illuminates a particularly dark chapter in French history. The raid, which has gone down in history as the "Rafle du Vel` d`Hiv`", was originally intended to arrest 28,000 Jews living in and around Paris and deport them to Auschwitz. Some 9,000 French police officers then arrested a total of 13,152 Jews on the morning of June 16, 1942, nearly 7,000 of whom were temporarily held in the Winter Velodrome near the Eiffel Tower before being taken to the concentration camps at Beaune-La-Rolande and Pithiviers, and from there eventually to the German death camps in the East. Only 25 adults returned alive.

Rose Bosch, screenwriter of the hit movie "1492 - The Conquest of Paradise", has sensitively turned this horrific chapter of French history, for which only in 1995 did then-President Jaques Chirac publicly apologize, into a poignant motion picture. It's almost impossible not to shed bitter tears, especially in the last half hour. Of course, Bosch makes use of some arguably manipulative devices, such as the touching score or big, sad children's eyes, but she is wholeheartedly forgiven for that. Because she succeeds wonderfully in telling this terrible story almost completely without striking elements, but with a lot of poetry and attention to detail. The fate of individuals stands here for the suffering of many, impressively played by great actors.

It is not necessarily the admittedly great performances of Jean Reno or Mélanie Laurent ("Inglourious Basterds") that makes a lasting impression on the viewer. Rather, it is the child actors, who act authentically throughout, that make this drama such a poignant film experience, an emotional experience. Embedded in a fascinating set - the winter velodrome had to be completely recreated - and captured in magnificent, at times very painful images, "The Children of Paris" is a film whose story absolutely must be told. In France, the film was a huge success with three million viewers. We can only hope that it will also be a success in Germany. No light fare, but nevertheless (or just therefore) absolutely recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp