Le Vieil Homme et L'enfant (The Two of Us)

It was a rought start, personally, to the 2006 festival. The opening-night reception began with catching up with old Francophile friends, over-indulging in "le seize" and--I won't lie--walking out after an hour of Le Brigade du Tigres. Tigres is a period piece and is very much a bad French studio film, or at least not my cup of tea.
Le Vieil Homme et L'enfant, however, was a marvel. It's a WWII black and white film that tells the story of a young Jewish Parisian boy who is sent to the countryside to escape the bombing raids and overall torment of the occupation. The boy is a bit of a rabble-rouser and caused a lot of trouble in Paris, trouble that he Jewish parents could no longer tolerate. The boy is sent to the countryside to an anti-semitic old man. The boy has to pretend he's Catholic and endure the hazing of his peers, among other tribulations.

The film was made well after the war, in 1967, but it's obvious that Berri is exposing old wounds with this film. The performance by Grandpa is a standout--he's a gentle but racist man who loves his dog, his wine, and eventually the boy. His transformation, beyond his obvious acceptance of the Jewish child in spite of his hate, is beautiful because Berri does not pander to sentimentality. The boy doesn't "teach" the old man any lessons; there comraderie and fraternitie is a byproduct of the boy's willingness to make jest of the man's hate.

The boy goofs around with the old man, calling him an old "dirty Jew" and telling him he has a crooked nose and frizzy hair. The old man, in his stupor, examines himself in a mirror, and while these moments are nothing epiphanical, they do culminate to say something about a cure-all for intolerance.

The screening was well-attended, about 1/5 full, but the next show--the Techine film--had a big line. I'm going to catch that film tomorrow as I haven't been home since Thursday night and could use a little nap and a home-cooked lunch. I'm also going to catch the Tati tomorrow, however this Saturday screening will be nice cos J Greenberg will be doing a Q&A afterward.

So yeah, my "en direct" posts were delayed because I didn't quite make it home last night. I got pretty knackered at the reception and at a Finches set and, well, the 10:00am came up real fast this morning. However, FFT is here ... the festival has just begun.