UN SAC DE BILLES/ A BAG OF MARBLES

France, 2017, 110 minutes, Colour.
Dorian Le Clech, Batyste Fleurial, Patrick Bruel, Elsa Zylberstein, Bernard Campan, Kevin Adams, Christian Clavier.
Directed by Christian Duguay.

This is a very moving film and can be recommended, not for light entertainment but, rather, for entering into a sad and dangerous period in French history, of being immersed in German-occupied France, of the strains on family and, especially, two young boys who have to make their way from Paris to the Free Zone, to the Mediterranean and Nice, who have to flee Nice and take refuge in a high alpine town until the liberation of France.

The film is based on a true story, on a book written by the younger of the two boys who experience this physical and emotional journey, JoJo?, Joseph Joffo. It was published in the mid 1970s and now, 40 years later, there is this moving film version. It has been directed by Christian Duguay, his earlier career was marked by quite a number of action films in France and in the United States but who, more recently, has moved to telling stories about children, Belle and Sebastien, the Journey Continues (also with a World War II setting).

The title is intriguing. As the film opens, the Germans have occupied Paris, 1942, Roman Joffo, the father, manages a barbershop (and some German soldiers are tricked into coming for bairfuts). There are two older brothers who work in the shop. The film opens with the young boys playing marbles in the street and, soon after, when all Jews have to put the yellow star on their clothes with the word Juif, a little boy approaches JoJo?, liking the star and its colour and offering to exchange his bag of marbles for the star. Sadly, the bag of marbles is left behind, JoJo? clutching one blue marble right throughout the film.

When the older boys go to the Free Zone in Nice, with their parents to follow, the two little boys are sent on alone, Maurice and JoJo?, riding by train, almost discovered by the German soldiers when a kindly priest indicates that they are with him, gets them to eat apples to make this seem more real, and assures them that he didn’t lie to the soldiers and that all children were with him. (Incidentally, priests are presented very sympathetically in this film, another in Nice showing them the way and, when the Gestapo tell Maurice that he has 48 hours to provide baptismal certificates because they are claiming to be Catholics, the parish priest authenticates the documents to the Nazi who does not believe him, even threatening to report him to the Archbishop and then to Rome).

They are resourceful boys, trudging their way through the mountains, getting lifts from sympathetic truck drivers, finally reunited with the family in Nice. But, the Germans are in this Free Zone and the family is once again threatened. Interestingly, the boys find themselves placed in a Catholic institution, a cover for many Jewish children, a bit like a military camp. But, they are caught and, as indicated earlier, interrogated by the Gestapo.

In the later years of the war, they have trekked through the mountains and come to an Alpine town in Haute Savoie where they have local jobs, delivering newspapers, working in a restaurant kitchen, aware of the Resistance, witnessing executions, listening to the anti-Semitic ravings of the book shop owner and his brutal military son.

By this stage of the film, the audience can share the joy and the dancing in the streets with the news of the liberation of Parma Paris and the taking down of the Nazi flag from the local castle.

The two boys portraying Maurice and JoJo? are completely convincing. While the story is familiar, this kind of story needs to be told and retold – and, challenging a 21st-century audience to contemplate and ask who are the refugees in the contemporary world and how they can survive.

1. Memories of World War II, France, persecution of the Jews, feet and survival?

2. Based on a true story, the novel by Jojo, published in 1975, but the final photo of the two old men?

3. The title, a bag of marbles exchange for one Jewish star? Symbolic?

4. Paris locations, the Jewish quarter, the barbershop, the streets, school? In 1942, the activities of the shop, including the Germans coming in for haircuts? The return to the shop in 1944?

5. The French countryside, the train ride, the country towns, the streets, the woods, the Free? The Mountains, the Mediterranean Sea?

6. Nice, the Streets, Shops and Markets, the Countryside, the Institution for the Children, with the Gestapo Officers?

7. Hopes of Waller, the Alps, the Mountain Scenery, the Town, the Newspaper Route, the Bookshop, the Restaurant and the Kitchen? The Town Square for the Liberation of France?

8. The Overview of France and World War II, the German Occupation, Occupation of Paris, the Vichy Government, Marshall Tan and Quoting Him Keeping His Promises? Loyalties to Germany, to the Vichy Government? The Contrast with the Free Zone? The Italians, the German Presence? The Work of the Local Police on Behalf of the Occupation? The Resistance? The Liberation?

9. Jojo, Maurice, their story? The rage, the family, the opening game of marbles? At school, having to wear the yellow star, the boy exchanging his marbles for the star that he liked? The bullying from one day to another?

10. The family plan, the older boys to leave for the Free Zone, the younger boys to make their way, the money, the list of stations? Roman slapping Jojo’s face, to toughen him for interrogations about being Jewish? His father’s love for him? The mother’s love? The bond between the brothers? Leaving home, the walk to the station, the crowded trains? The guards wanting papers? The kindly priest taking the initiative, sitting the boys with him, giving them apples to eat, saying they belong to him? The boys thanking him for lining – and his response that all children were his? Going to the restaurant in the town, crowded? The refugees in the streets? The violence in those getting down from the train, the brutality of the Germans? The encounter with Raymond, is promises, Maurice the audience thinking he was a con man? Taking their money? At night, the soldiers pursuing refugees in the woods? Raiment arriving, taking them through the forest, hiding, the border of the Free Zone, the farmhouse and safety? Going through the mountains, Jojo’s foot injury, Maurice carrying him? The various lifts and friendly types? Seeing the Mediterranean?

11. Life in Nice, reunited with their brothers, their parents arrival, the barbershop? The ease in Nice, the beaches, the relaxed atmosphere with the people? The boys and their jobs, the market, the group playing cards, avoiding using Yiddish language? Another kindly priest showing the boys the way? The gift of the violin, the mother’s delight, playing, plaintiff Jewish music, the police arriving, the saying that she was playing Russian music? The older boys on the roof, escaping? The farewell to the parents, going to the Catholic Institute? The boys, exercises, military training? The Catholic boys, the cover for Jewish boys, the man in charge? Some anti-Semitic prejudice? The boy from Algeria, trapped in France, the boys deciding to take his story and the details? Life, peeling the potatoes, the games, Ferdinand and the trip into Nice, they’re being caught, Jojo being hit, the Gestapo? The interrogation Ferdinand, Jewish or Resistance, his being taken away and shot?

12. The boys, the interrogation, staying with their stories, the Algerian background? The issue of circumcision, the chance encounter with Dr Rosen, is stating that the circumcision was surgical or not religious? The later finding him being transported, caring for Jojo and his meningitis, is gift of life to the boys? The Gestapo, the interrogator, sinister smiles? Not believing the boys? Giving Maurice 48 hours to come up with the baptismal certificates?

13. The certificates, the priest, his lies for the boys, the Gestapo not believing him? The priest threatening to report the case to the bishop and to roam? The boys sent out to get the tomatoes, the open gate, the soldier outside, the trap, the son coming out and they’re seeing the shadow? They’re being released? The thankfulness of the priest? The boys gratitude? Going back to the institution, their father in the back of the car, the phone call with their mother?

14. The having to flee again, travelling through the mountains, into the high Alps, the jobs, Jojo delivering the papers, proprietor of the bookshop and his loyalty to pretend, anti-Semitic remarks, the glory of France, against England? His son, the local police, bigotry? Françoise and Jojo’s attachment to her, the conversations? Maurice working at the hotel? The members of the Resistance, the codes, the cover for the police arrival? Jojo delivering the message to the head of the Resistance? There later being rounded up, Jojo and Françoise witnessing their shooting? Jojo accepted into the family, for religious reasons, the Sunday meal, the expressions of bigotry at the table?

15. The liberation, the joy in the streets, people dancing in the streets? The violet attacking of the booksellers son? His being arrested, the violence that he shot? Jojo and his decision to say that the bookkeeper had sheltered are due during the war, the mother thanking Jojo for saving her husband?

16. Maurice going to Paris, Jojo’s return, the shop, the family, the brothers, the mother, the sadness of the news of their father going to Auschwitz? The comet by his father about shining a light and the symbol of the Bible?

17. A 21st-century telling of this story? And the message for all refugees in parallel situations in the 21st century?