lord woodburry
Meet Henri Fortin, the product of a tough life. He's middle-aged with youthful glories in the boxing ring behind him. The Germans are occupying France and have installed the Quisling Vichy Regime. Fortin is uninterested in the political events unfolding around him. He's a moving man (déménageur). Among his clients is a Jewish Family the Zinmans who have decided to relocate to Normandy to escape the attention of the Germans and their Vichy allies. As part of the deal the illiterate M. Fortin asks the Zinmans to read him Victor Hugo's Les Misérables to pass time.Seizing upon the parallels between his life and Victor Hugo's hero Valjean, Fortin rises to the occasion when the Zinmans discover that Normandy is no more amenable to them than Paris. The decision leads to a twisted course so close to the edge of criminality and of legitimacy that one must question the very concept of heroism.There is pathos when Mrs Zinman, not a Jew ends up shipped out because she will not prostitute herself to the Germans. There is bathos when the farmers who rescue Lawyer Zinman imprison him with spurious tales that Hitler conquered America. Fate bring a curious end to the farm couple. Salome Zinman ensconced in a nunnery is forced to recite The Lord's Prayer for a German officer who does not notice she confuses "Lead us not into temptation" (Et ne nous laissez pas succomber à la tentation.), with "Deliver us from evil." (Mais délivrez-nous du mal.)Yet who will deliver Fortin when all his worlds collide?
Syl
Jean Paul Belmondo plays a dual role that should have garnered him awards for his performance as both Valjean and as Henri Fortin who takes in a Jewish girl during World War II. Her parents have been taken by the German Nazis. The girl reads to Henri from Victor Hugo's classic novel, Les Miserables, since I believe Henri himself can't read. Well, he imagines himself in the role as Valjean. The film is dually impressive relating the past to the present day life of France during the French Revolution and World War II during the German occupation of France. The girl is safe in a French convent. Her parents including her French non-Jewish mother who married a French Jew succumbs to becoming prisoner. Her husband survives a shooting and is taken in by French farmers who have their own agenda. Regardless, the ending is not to be missed. It's both about the joy of living during the worst of times and how fortunate we are.
writers_reign
Okay, it COULD happen! A savage lion COULD put its killer instincts on hold and sit still as a wimp removes a thorn from its foot and a few years later, in the arena, that same lion COULD recognize the wimp who helped him and refuse to eat him. Call me vulnerable but I buy this. Same thing with this movie. Four people - mother, father, daughter, plus lorry driver who-is-helping-this-Jewish-family-escape-to-Switzerland-in-WW11 COULD get separated and survive ENDLESS hardships and meet up again after the war, and the Father COULD be the lawyer who defends the lorry-driver and saves him from the guillotine, and the lorry driver COULD be an illiterate who gets it into his head that he is the human incarnation of a fictional character (Jean Valjean)and that his life will follow the same pattern and he COULD become mayor of the town. Why not, it's a free country. Lelouch, of course, does chocolate-box and does it in spades, so this is always going to be easy on the eye. He also directs actors well and chooses actors who can deliver - any movie that boasts Micheline Presle AND Annie Girardot can't be all bad - and so he does here. The only way to watch this is to surrender rather than suspend your disbelief and then you will be rewarded.
bouncingoffwall
Running parallel to the famous Victor Hugo classic, this movie introduces us to very complex characters in our recent past, the Twentieth Century. Many unexpected twists and turns will lead you to contemplate the combination of good and evil in each of us, and how -- beyond those who seemingly don't possess humane qualities -- many others are capable of betrayal once goodwill towards their fellow humans threatens to encroach on their own well-being and happiness. Also, this film illustrates very well how persons may be forced to act against their principles by others who have temporarily gained control of their lives. Yet there will always be the heroic ones who will defy evil to the point of risking being tortured or losing their lives. Still others balance in between.By the end of the film, you may find yourself a bit exhausted at all the events -- some disturbing -- that suspensefully unfold in quick succession, and at different locations with different characters. Only at the end does it come together. The closing scene was one which left me with a feeling of hope for mankind. This is a very interesting and finely crafted movie. You should see it, but make sure it is Les Miserables of the Twentieth Century, and that it was filmed in French in 1995.
AD
