... and so does Cayette. On the other hand Cayette spent virtually all his career blaming somebody. It's a sobering thought that Ken Loach probably hero-worshipped Cayette and almost certainly saw him as a role model. There is, thankfully, one large difference between guru and disciple and that is that unlike Loach Cayette doesn't forget to add a top layer to his diatribes in the shape of Entertainment. He actually provides a storyline that CAN, if one is so inclined, be viewed merely as drama, the Social Comment is there all right but unlike Loach it's not in yer face so if, for example, you want to view this film as nothing more than the tale of a group of youngsters who feel alienated and/or dispossessed and embark on a naive scheme to bankroll a trip to their idea of paradise then do that. These kids are in their mid teens so that in 1954 they'd lived through most of WW2 and the period of austerity that followed; the Cold War is well underway as is Korea so little wonder they dream of tropical islands if only they had some serious money. We know because we've seen movies like The Asphalt Jungle - and will see it's successor The Killing in a couple of years - that even robberies that are planned meticulously over months and to the last detail have a way of unravelling if only because Crime could not be SEEN to pay in those halcyon days so what chance a scheme based on I'll cosy up to this rich guy, accept an invitation to his apartment and THEN, while his back's turned I'll leave the french window unlocked so that YOU can get in and take anything portable that we can sell. Oh, yes, should you be disturbed in the middle of this, by a cop, for example, you're on your own. Exactly. Which is, of course, what happens. Cayette, who was not averse to dealing with such emotive subjects as euthanasia starts by framing the parents in the courtroom as if it is them and not the kids who are on trial and he allows each one a flashback to reinforce the culpability. Overall it's a fine film with a cast largely unknown outside France with the exception of Bernard Blier and certainly has value as an example of domestic cinema in the early fifties.
Review of Before the Deluge
