Description

The Boy Soldier 1981
Allons z’enfants (original title)
Storyline:This is a coming of age drama adapted from the 1952 Yves Gibeau novel of the same title. A young anti-militarist is forcibly sent to military school by his father. He’s a bookish pacifist who endures being bullied by his superiors all throughout school, not out of weakness rather out of strength to deny violence it’s coveted reciprocity. On the eve of his much anticipated graduation day, Word War II ensues and swaps out the freedom he earned for the brutality of its first front lines. An original score by French composer Phillipe Sarde with photography directed by Yves Boisset sets the atmosphere of 1932 in France.User review:It was a couple of years ago that I watched this movie – I never forgot it.The plot is the coming of age of a young boy who, in the 1930s, is sent by his parents to a military academy in France and becomes, unwillingly, an officer cadet. As kind of a “daydreamer”-type boy, he has his problems adapting to the military, but experiences true friendship with fellow comrades. This helps him through the difficult times of youth. When he is about to graduate from the military academy, it happens to be the eve of WW2, and in autumn of 1939 he is sent as a “grunt” directly to the front. There, he is getting into one of the first German vs. French skirmishes during the “phony war”. He witnesses a German soldier being seriously wounded and spontaneously tries to save his enemy combatant from the line of fire. He does not survive this.At first just getting you stunned, this warm-hearted, humane film after all deeply impresses. Its abstinence from hail of glory, its sensitivity and its straight statement in favor of human dignity – even the more under the terrible circumstances of war – are especially remarkable. The best die the first, they say. Did they die in vain? Anyway – may their deaths be remembered like in this film.
Director: Yves Boisset
Writers: Yves BoissetYves Gibeau (novel), Jacques Kirsner
Stars: Lucas Belvaux, Jean Carmet, Jean-Pierre Aumont
Country of origin: France
Language: French
IMDB Profile tt0080355

The Boy Soldier (1981)

1981-03-04

7.4

Director: Yves Boisset

Writers: Yves Boisset, Yves Gibeau, Jacques Kirsner

Stars: Lucas Belvaux, Jean Carmet, Jean-Pierre Aumont

Summary: This is a coming of age drama adapted from the 1952 Yves Gibeau novel of the same title. A young anti-militarist is forcibly sent to military school by his father. He's a bookish pacifist who endures being bullied by his superiors all throughout school, not out of weakness rather out of strength to deny violence it's coveted reciprocity. On the eve of his much anticip... Read all

Also known as: Allons z'enfants on DVD