Au Revoir Les Enfants (France, 1987)

A relative oldie but the film has become a classic of French cinema.

Au Revoir Les Enfants tells the story of three new students who arrive at a Catholic boarding school in France. The 3 boys are actually Jews who are evading capture by the Nazis. The boys develop a tight bond with another non-Jewish boy while the School Principal, Père (Father) Jean works to protect the boys from the Holocaust.

The Times (UK) wrote "without being sentimental, the drama is incredibly moving as the muted light plays over young faces that are about to face the unknowable evils of the adult world."

The Guardian reviewer some years ago shed any English reserve to say of the film:
"It remains breathtakingly good. There is a miraculous, unforced ease and naturalness in the acting and direction; it is classic movie storytelling in the service of important themes, including the farewell that we must bid to our childhood, and to our innocence – a farewell repeated all our lives in the act of memory."

This film is deeply poignant just now. It is really about any and every kid anywhere in the world in any area of conflict who is about to face the evils that adult inflict on them - and the bonds of friendship that they can create, despite everthing thrown at them. A must-see.