A Bag of Marbles

"Papa, tu te souviens? Vous m'avez dit une fois que lorsqu'un homme meurt, une étoile s'allume dans le ciel. Et l'espoir doit être maintenu. C'est vrai, tu es là, papa. Et vous le serez toujours."

Such a beautiful movie. The touching story brought me to tears. The young actors who play Maurice and Joseph are phenomenal and just do an amazing job portraying these amazing strong characters. Didn't know this was a true story but it just turned everything more beautiful. One of my favourite movies without a doubt. Hurts to think the amount of people who went through this, most of them not surviving these horrifying events. A beautiful homage nevertheless.

I've seen a lot of movies about the Holocaust but this one was a little different in mood and it really drew me in. Set in France in WWII it focuses on the true story of two young Jewish children escaping the Nazis. The movie succeeds in being both shocking and charming. The charm is mostly in the characters, but it also comes from the beautiful vibrant colours and the quaint French villages. The shocking part of the movie is of course the Nazis, in this case their tenacious pursuit of every last Jew, even such innocent young children. The aggressiveness of their interrogations is appalling.

The main characters are perhaps a little too perfect, much like the setting, but this didn't detract from the message. It seemed to me that the story was being told from a child's simplistic perspective. The movie doesn't try to convey the scale of the catastrophe always keeping a narrow focus on this family, however by keeping the story so confined, by being just a microcosm of the holocaust, I think the horror of the events are made all the more powerful.

It is difficult to find the words to review a movie - and even more assign a rating - on a subject like the holocaust, drawing a line between an objective review of the filmic qualities of the movie and the emotional impact of its context. Nevertheless, I found it beautiful, delicate, moving, excruciating - even more so knowing it comes from a true story. The performance of the key actors is impeccable, always perfectly measured even in the most dramatic moments; the narrative tension is maintained high throughout the whole movie between the brutal reality of the events and the poetry of such reality seen through the eyes of a little, brave kid. Personally, I place Un Sac de Billes next to Schindler's List and La Vita é Bella; a movie that needed to be made and needs to be seen.

I am very interested in movies about the last world war. What makes me sad is how brutal the chase was against Jewish people and children. This true story let since long time again tears in my eyes. I mean Patrick Bruel and the two boys played their roles very convincingly and with lot of passion. The filming locations in Nice and Savoie have been well presented. I liked it very much and it was never boring. There were lot of turns and some painful scenes that touched me a lot. Christian Dugay directed this historical remake with full of attention and respect. I didn't see the first one but the last is perhaps even better than the original version.

If you liked this genre of movie don't miss Der Letzte Zug, Son of Soul, Die Fâlscher, The Pianist, Sarah's Key or Elser. If you are interested read my critics on this site for all these mentioned great movies.

8/10

The two main characters of A Bag of Marbles are young Jewish brothers, Joseph and Maurice, whose lives are upended by the German invasion of France.

They live peacefully in Paris with their parents and two older brothers, until the occupation forces them to flee to the south, where they find temporary refuge - at least until the Nazis tighten their grip on the entire country.

Yes, it's another film about the Holocaust. And no, I don't understand the so-called "reviewers" who complain about that. If the subject matter bothers them, perhaps they should check the synopsis - or better yet, skip it altogether. As Holocaust films go, this one is exceptionally well made, with strong performances and moments that genuinely move. One especially powerful scene shows Jo's father slapping him to force a denial of his Jewish identity, a brutal act done out of desperate love. Another, more subdued but equally poignant, is Jo's failed attempt at romance with the daughter of a collaborator.

Definitely worth watching.