Creating a historical film is not an easy feat, and one of this particular era and subject (that of the Jews during World War II) is a great challenge not to be taken lightly. World War II is a topic so frequently covered and which has been portrayed in so many fictional pieces of media, that the film that the stereotypes which have been created are all too easy to fall back upon. Due to this, unless a film portrays complicated, deeply human characters from this era, it will almost undoubtedly lose its effect.
La Rafle, unfortunately, for the most part does not do this. The first half hour is the greatest flaw of this film and destroys its potential of being a beautiful tragedy. In this time, we are introduced to the Jews whom we will follow throughout the rest of the film, as well as moments of Hitler, Pétain, as well as the doctors. This fails though because the characters are used almost entirely for exposition, pushing quickly in the first half hour to the deportation to the Velodrome d’Hiver. In this manner, we never really get to know the characters beyond the fact that they are Jews. We see no little elements of their personalities (one character is Trotskyist – that is about as close as we get, and that is revealed later.) They are almost cardboard cutouts – the children like to play, the mothers love their children, the police are just doing their jobs, etc. etc. Meanwhile, all that anyone talks about is the Jewish issue.
In this sense, the goals of the film are revealed – to talk about an event, rather than about people. This film is about The Roundup, not about the Jews themselves. It is about a historical happening, not humans in their experiences. Meanwhile, it shows many human faces, but all-too briefly, with extremely quick cuts from one point of drama to another. And we sense that it is drama, not emotion. As the film goes on, it gets steadily better but never makes up for this lack of sympathy.
On the other hand, there are several merits to keep this film from being a failure. The subject itself, while being handled poorly, is a daring discussion of the French people’s implicit aiding in the Holocaust – a subject not often discussed very heavily in France due to some shame and its inconsistency with French nationalism. The performances by the adults are quite good too, with Mélanie Laurent in particular showing her power as an actress. Some of the characters struggling with the morality of the situation are great to watch too (in particular some of the French police officers.) The ending is sad an beautiful – a moment in a room of people searching for their missing loved ones. The ending is the most human part of this whole film, and seeing it made me regret that the entire thing wasn’t like this.
Showtimes for The Roundup:
Tue, Jul 26 – 8:55pm (Castro Theatre)
Thu, Aug 4 – 8:45pm (Roda Theatre – Berkeley)
Sun, Aug 7 – 8:30pm (Oshman Family JCC – Palo Alto)
Mon, Aug 8 – 6:20pm (Rafael Film Center - San Rafael)
