Anyone who has seen and admired Le Grand Chemin will enjoy and/or admire this film which has much in common with the former. In both films a city-boy is sent to live in rural France because his parent(s)are unable to look after him temporarily and in each case his presence in a new family serves as a healing process between his adoptive parents. The parallels - rip-offs if you will - end there because here we have an extra dimension and it is political. In Le Grand Chemin the protagonist's mother was having another child so she prevailed upon a friend in the country to take the boy in for several months. In Michou D'Auber the mother of two sons is hospitalized and the father needs to work extra hours to pay for her medicare so the boys are placed with Social Services who farm them out to different families. So far so ordinary but now comes the twist; the family are Algerians and we are in 1960 or the heart of the mini-crisis between France and Algeria which culminated in Algeria gaining independence. The woman who agrees to take the younger brother, Nathalie Baye, is childless and married to a DeGaullist or anti-Algerian. She solves this potential dilemma by dyeing the boy's hair blonde and passing him off as French. Depardieu comes to 1) love the boy and 2)realize his true origins. Depardieu and virtually all his friends in the provincial town are rampant DeGaullists which makes for some violent confrontations when the boy's nationality is revealed. The Depardieu/Baye marriage has grown stagnant and both indulge in extra marital activity yet their love for the boy and determination to defend him against the hatred of the town re-ignites their own love. Actors of the caliber of Depardieu, Baye and Mattieu Almaric (who plays Baye's lover) don't do mediocre and all three performances are outstanding. Not perhaps to everyone's taste but a fine effort nevertheless.
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writers_reign11 January 2012
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franbelle1021 May 2019Oscillating between comedy and politically correct lesson of morality, this film does not find its public. Depardieu's game is impeccable, but that is not enough to save the whole film, dripping with predictability and syrupy cliches. Disappointing
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As regards this film I am in a bit of a quandary as to whether it will be successful beyond the frontiers of France. I have just seen it today, having previously seen appetizing trailers from it during preceding visits to the cinema. When all is said and done, the film more than does justice to these trailers. I do not agree with the politics of the film but do admit that on a human level and in many other domains the film sports an impressive battery of strong points. Foreign spectators need to be advised that some knowledge of French history during the 1960's is necessary to fully appreciate and comprehend what is going on and why certain things happen. Basically, Algeria was a colony of France from about 1830 onwards. During the late 1950's and beginning of the 1960's there were uprisings of a vociferous minority of the indigenous population seeking independence from France and rule by the Arabs ( who themselves had colonized the same country some six hundred years previously and taken it from the Berbers and Kabyles who were in fact the original inhabitants ). These uprisings culminated in what is known in plain English as the War of Algeria but in euphemistic French as "Les Evenements d'Algérie". Because of this situation, algerians residing in metropolitan France ( Algeria was at that time a department of France like any other ) were the butt of jokes and insults on the part of metropolitan French whereas the "Français d'Algerie" were also the butt of hatred, jokes and attacks buy the local algerians. Once the war was under way there was torture and attacks both by the Arabs and by the French Army. Add to this that the main revolt movement, the FLN or Front de Libération Nationale was being aided and abetted by leftist and socialist movements in metropolitan France. De Gaulle was called to defuse the situation, and promised everything to everybody, but finally agreed to Independence for the country, without taking into consideration the million and a half people of European extraction living there, this led to a mass exodus in the early sixties with all these people rejoining metropolitan France, and having to put up with insults and attacks from the indigenous French. Because of this, there was the impression that de Gaulle had betrayed his people and a movement called O.A.S. (Organisation de l'Armée Secrète) was born. These people hated de Gaulle and hated the Arabs at the same time. Some of these people, or their sympathizers at least are to be seen in the film, and this explains some of the violent scenes and exchanges. The independence of Algeria was signed on March 19th 1962 ( 45 years ago today itself ! ) So much so for the politics. It is not interesting but necessary to know a little about it to understand the film. In 1960, an algerian immigrant living near to Paris, in a suburb called Aubervilliers, deposits his sons with the local social services so as to be able to return to his country for family reasons. The child is proposed to a family from the centre of France ( Berry Region - around Chateauroux and Bourges ) to take the child into their care. For reasons which I explained earlier, the child's arab origins are disguised and his hair is painted blond. He has to go to catholic church, and change his Christian name from Messaoud to Michel. His family name is changed from it original arab one to "Daubert" ( A play on words from D'Auber(villiers) = Michel from Aubervilliers. Although the foster mother is aware of his origins, the foster father is not, though he gradually realises this intuitively by the end of the film. So Michel lives with his foster parents on a farm on a village in the Berry region and goes to school there. The foster parents also have a Mongol boy who gives them a helping hand with the animals etc etc. The strong points of the film are the perfect reconstitution of 1960's France, the music, the excellent picture quality and the lively scenario. The foster Parents are Nathalie Baye and Gérard Depardieu who are of course excellent actors and Depardieu's performance is one of his best. Depardieu is in his element here because in real life he was born and brought up as a boy in Châteauroux in this same region of France. There are some unpleasant scenes of violence in the film and also some adultery, both of these shocked me but the humour and lively scenario more than make up for this. The boy actor is excellent and the spectator sympathises immediately with his plight and follows with excitement the unfolding events in his new life. The film appears to me to be loaded politically in favour of the Algerians and I find this reprehensible, as I think that the politics of the time could have been dispensed with - the Algerians were no less guilty than the French of violent acts and torture. There are also references to the Algerian custom of slitting a sheep's throat which is something very disgusting for the French but we then see Depardieu slitting a live pigs belly and all its entrails falling out and this shocks the little boy ............. So whilst I do not condone the political manipulation of this film ( and something common to all films of Thomas Gilou ), the story itself is highly entertaining and though the screening time is close to two hours, there is not a minute's boredom. Noteworthy as well is the inclusion of a number of songs from the 1960's sung by the great comedian Bourvil. This is one film that I shall definitely be watching out for on DVD and I do hope that is has some international success if only because of the SPLENDID performance of every one of its actors !
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I saw the film when returning on a long-distance flight with Air France - the on-board video-system was all f**ked although the plane was the same as the outgoing KLM flight which had a nice video-on-demand system - well, when will AF stop to disappoint their customers? Anyway, the system didn't help and I only saw the flick because there was time to kill and nothing else to see. So much to the not very intriguing title ... well, Gerard Depardieu's taking part also helped in selecting the film. The story unravels around the relationship between an Algerian boy and his fostering mother - a rather simple woman from a small village. The film gives some background on the politics of the time - depressing and suppressing - and goes on to show how brave minds (the mother, the school teacher, maybe also the priest), although they knew about the boy's origin, gave him shelter and security. There is even a hint at the situation of the Jews in WW2 France. It also shows how men in general are apt to follow irrational and inhuman beliefs and kindle hatred. Even the boys at school call Michel a 'wog' (probably 'pied noire' could partly only see the subtitled version without sound) and bash him for this. The really funny parts are very subtle, for instance the school teacher's giving the fostering mother a copy of Camus' 'L'etranger'. Also Depardieu exercising spelling with the boy over a French militarist text on Indochinese war or saluting to the De Gaulle speech on the Algerian crisis (including making the boy salute along). The film also takes a blow at French hypocrisy - i.e. celebrating victory over German in WW2 but hardly ever having a look at all the French collaborators and Vichy France, incl. delivering Jews to the Nazis. May 68 took place in France for good reasons: reacting to a repressive and aggressive climate which started the 'Algerian War' and grudgingly then had to accept the defeat. Gilou sets the unfathomable trust of the boy in his fostering parents in contrast to this and thus shows how relying on simple human relations minus the lies of ideologies and religions can make the world a so much better place.
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mmunier14 April 2017Almost September 2021 and I was reading about this movie ...And found my own review! How sad is the fact that this movie has not any aditional reviews since. But I had already forgot about it and also forgot I reviewed it as it is just below this.
Yes totally spoiled! I saw the title as part of my Weekly TV PGR and since it was screened late I felt it may have been a mediocre film. But my wife recorded it for my sake...As I used to be French, some 47 years ago when I departed for Australia... But yes totally spoiled I was when we watched it. It was France as I remembered my tender teens and beyond. I was about a week before the age of twenty when Algeria voted for independence at a referendum. But I would not say this spoiled me. What did, was Bourville, Dalida, Be Bob a lou la, Enrico Macias and very much the country side I learned to love in the department (of Doubs), yet so familiar as it is portrayed here in this movie. It was definitely one of the best trips I made down memory lane. I was also so pleased to see Depardieu in his best element. As for the leading lady, she was perfect too, along with those wonderful boys of which "Michou" was the super nova! I was shocked, not by the adultery, or the political, violence, but more to see there are only three reviews before mine Warmth exuded out of this story almost to its entire length. It felt honest and genuine and I wish I could convey this feeling to non French audience who have seen this film, but know that with the best skill and intentions it's not possible just like this young boy trying to swallow and appreciate a pork sausage! That's what culture is all about and I don't think it's interchangeable. This does not mean that there is no material to enjoy in it but it is an important factor to get the full impact of such work. Oh I nearly forgot one more spoiler...The "Resurrection"of "Monsieur Lazhar"! Perhaps a little cryptic but for those who've seen the movie I hope they'll understand.