"Un sac de billes" tells the story of two young Jewish boys in France during the German occupation, who have to split from their family in order to have a better chance of survival. During the long months until the liberation, both face death several times and can only escape with a lot of luck and help.
It is of course hard to say anything against this film. It is based on the memories of a surviving family, shows a bitter reality and sheds light on a group of people that often is forgotten: The ones who survived in hiding. Unfortunatelly, the big narrative in terms of filmmaking is missing a bit. You do emphasize with the lead characters of course but it feels like a lot of stories are told at the same time and that somehow destroys the bigger picture. Thus what you get is a good movie, an important one as well, but not one that outstands in its way of telling the story.
All in all this is a movie that can be recommended, but I fear it is not one that will be recognized by larger audiences. I think that the story would have more potential but nontheless this is a more than solid approach.
It is of course hard to say anything against this film. It is based on the memories of a surviving family, shows a bitter reality and sheds light on a group of people that often is forgotten: The ones who survived in hiding. Unfortunatelly, the big narrative in terms of filmmaking is missing a bit. You do emphasize with the lead characters of course but it feels like a lot of stories are told at the same time and that somehow destroys the bigger picture. Thus what you get is a good movie, an important one as well, but not one that outstands in its way of telling the story.
All in all this is a movie that can be recommended, but I fear it is not one that will be recognized by larger audiences. I think that the story would have more potential but nontheless this is a more than solid approach.