Format: DVD from Rockford Public Library on kick-ass portable DVD player
When I started this a couple of years ago, I didn’t realize exactly how much time I’d be spending between 1939 and 1945. I suppose this shouldn’t really surprise me, as World War II is the seminal event of the last century. It makes sense that it would dominate a percentage of our art, media, and thoughts. Much of what exists regarding World War II is told from memory, a way to exorcise demons. That is certainly the case with Louis Malle’s Au Revoir, les Enfants (Goodbye, Children).
Like many war stories, this one takes place from the point of view of children, who have always offered a particular perspective on war. At a certain point, kids understand what war is, even if they don’t understand why it is. The children in this film are boys at a Catholic boarding school, and many of them are able to understand not just that the war is happening, but that very bad things are happening as well.
