Wartime drama in French Alps
MOVIE REVIEW by Don Perlgut. The new movie of the iconic French children’s story Belle and Sebastian has added a fascinating sub-theme of Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazis into Switzerland during World War II.
Originally titled Belle et Sébastien, it started life in 1965 as a children’s novel by French film actress and author Cecile Aubry. The book was first adapted into a French TV series in the late 1960s and proved so popular that it was dubbed into English and screened on BBC TV.
The new film version is set in 1943 in the French Alps near the French-Swiss border and tells the story of the friendship between a young French boy and a wild dog, who local villagers suspect of killing their sheep.
As a parallel story, Nazi soldiers are trying to shut down an escape route of Jewish refugees over the mountains to Switzerland. The film is beautifully shot in the French mountains with excellent acting by Felix Bossuet as the young Sebastian, the experienced Tcheky Karyo as Sebastian’s adopted grandfather and some astonishing Pyrenean mountain dogs cast as Belle.
Sebastian and Belle’s adventures take them through the mountains and ultimately they become pivotal in the successful escape of refugees fleeing Nazi Germany for the safety of Switzerland.
It’s a warm-hearted story aimed at family viewing. Belle and Sebastian features many interesting village characters and, of course, is a dog-lover’s delight.
It was the second highest-grossing film in France last year and premiered in Australia at the 2014 Alliance Francaise French Film Festival in March.
Belle and Sebastian is currently screening.
PHOTO from Belle and Sebastian
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