La Rafle – The Round Up – CATCH IT (B+) French holocaust movie about Vel' d'Hiv Roundup in Paris during World War II. The La Rafle is a true story about few weeks in July 1942, when more than 13,000 Parisian Jews, including more than 4000 children, were rounded up and taken to the now notorious Vel' d'Hiv stadium. All the Jews families were kept in the stadium with no food, water or proper toilets. The movie is based upon the true story of the survivals during that time, which includes the young boy "Jo Weismann" and Christian nurse "Annette Monod". La Rafle succeed in presenting the situations at the Vel' d'Hiv stadium during that time. The story of young boy Jo and his neighbors are heart wrenching. I must say that the young star Romain Di Concerto as Nono is the cutest kid in the world. All of his scenes will simply brings tears into your eyes. There is no word to describe the innocence this character brings on screen. Melanie Laurent as Annette Mondo is great, she brings the charm into her character and shows how brilliantly she can be transformed into any character provided. Raphaëlle Agogué as Jo Weismann's mother is stunning. Hugo Leverdez, Jean Reno & Denis Menochet did a fine job. La Rafle depicted the situation in French during World War II perfectly but I do find the scenes showing Hitler or French govt. taking care of the matters inconsistent or you can incoherent with the movie. I think the movie would have been better without it. Overall, La Rafle is a very effective movie about the past human accuracy in the world.
Review of The Round Up
