This powerful and deeply moving film depicts one of the most shocking and shameful episodes of French history. In July 1942 the French police, at the direction of the Nazis, rounded up thousands of Jewish citizens and detained them in appalling conditions in the Paris velodrome for several days. The detainees were then shipped to a camp outside Paris for a period of time before they were subsequently transported to the extermination camps in Poland. This incident was the backdrop for the recent Sarah's Key, which starred Kristen Scott Thomas. But here the subject matter is far more powerful, harrowing and ultimately poignant. There is no doubting the anger and disgust felt by writer/director Rose Bosche at these events. She handles some of the gruesome brutalities and atrocities in an unflinching fashion that heightens their impact on the audience. A note at the start of the film informs us that all the events depicted here actually happened, even the most extreme. The film also occasionally cuts away from the depravities endured by the Jews to shots of a smiling and laughing Hitler (Udo Schenk) enjoying his retreat high in the picturesque German Alps. The events largely unfold from the perspective of eleven-year old Jo Weismann (Hugo Leverdez) who managed to escape from the camp before his family was sent East. Of the 4500 children sent to the camps, none survived, and only 25 adults survived. Jean Reno lends his formidable presence to the role of a sympathetic doctor who worked amongst the prisoners. Melanie Laurent is also deeply affecting as a dutiful nurse who is appalled by what she witnesses and tries to inform the authorities, to little avail. Not to be missed!
Review of The Round Up
