A Bag of Marbles AKA Un Sac de Billes15 January 2017
Gaumont Film Company
Historical Drama
DVD
B+
This is a stunning movie, both grand and humble, about two brave Jewish brothers who struggle to survive in Nazi-occupied France, while longing to be reunited with the rest of the close-knit family. Early on, the younger brother Joseph (who would grow up to write the autobiographical novel that inspired this and a 1975 adaptation) trades his Yellow Star for a bag of marbles, although it is only one battered blue marble (like the Earth?) that he keeps through all his adventures. The film runs the gamut of emotions, including petty ones, and is filled with moving performances, so that the subtitles aren't a barrier (except when on light backgrounds, but I'm not going to mark it down for that). I can't, however, give an A- or higher because the violence, although necessary to the plot (and less than it could've been of course), and overall danger make this in some ways a hard movie to watch. Still, highly recommended, and indeed the first B+ in this project.
Christian Duguay directed and co-wrote.
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