War Orphans – We are all made orphans

POV: Your Future

Forbidden Games

I hadn’t signed up for this.  I thought I was getting soft-core soap opera.  These are very different games than the kind I usually devote my evenings to.  The Rules of the Game was the film I’d planned on writing about next, but that has proved a difficult job.  So, on the recommendation of Frankly, My Dear, I queued up another depressing take on WWII France.  Not approaching the cynicism of Rules, which shows a society crumbling at the inevitable approach of terror, Forbidden Games is a look back at that terror with acceptance that what we see, we can’t understand.

To illustrate this, the director Rene Clement gives us the war through the eyes of children.  These children are impressive – seriously this has to be among the greatest child performances.  Really, the two leads, both very young, are what make Forbidden Games special.  Their relationship is unforgettable, as is the girl’s face in the final heartbreaking scene.

Just like Boudu…, Games (Forbidden not Rules, just realized that could be confusing) begins with a lost dog.  When 5 y.o. Paulette’s parents and dog are shot in a German air raid, her response is perfect – she doesn’t respond.  How could she – she’s 5.  She picks up her dead dog and wanders.  I think the screenplay hints that Paulette is Jewish – she is totally unfamiliar with Christian symbols – though, I’m not sure why it would be so coy with this fact.  I guess the writer’s didn’t want this to become the central allegory; yes, that was probably wise.  If this is true, it’s interesting to think that her indoctrination at the hands of a peasant boy well steeped in these symbols may later save her much suffering.

I’m lucky to understand war only through movies.  Which means I don’t understand.   I loved this movie for approaching this horror not in hallowed or heroic terms, but with the humility that must be our ultimate response.  The weakest episodes in the film, the slapstick battles between adults, do show that the children have nowhere to look for sanity, but the tone just doesn’t click with the whole.  For cartoonish parody, I’ll take MASH;  Forbidden Games is best when focused on the emotional confusion of senseless violence – in the face of which, we are all made orphans.

What happens to war orphans, btw?  This may sound like a stupid question, but think of the number of children left without family in WWII.  Many Paulette’s must survive, so their stories are likely out there.

NOTE

Rene Clement is a director sort of stuck in French cinema’s limbo stage between genius eras of Jean Renoir’s “poetic realism” (is that a lame term? I’m not sure.  It kind of suits the Renoir movies I’ve seen.  I wonder what he thought of the term.  More on that next time.) and the “New Wave.”

NOTE

I like that Clement allows for a real, loving relationship to develop between the kids.  It’s true that it has manipulation, but what relationship doesn’t?  The direction, along with the dynamic performances, make their love story unique.