Au Revoir Les Enfants by Louis Malle – my previous note on this wonderful work is at https://realini.blogspot.com/2018/03/au-revoir-les-enfants-written-and.html where I have some other texts - 9 out of 10

 

Au Revoir Les Enfants by Louis Malle – my previous note on this wonderful work is at https://realini.blogspot.com/2018/03/au-revoir-les-enfants-written-and.html where I have some other texts

 

9 out of 10

 

Trying to start off with a joke, the title is very attractive for this cinephile, because it means Goodbye Children, and considering where I live, that would be a nice prospect, if it could happen literally, as in this is a gated community we have here, with fat cats, and spoiled children, who abuse firecrackers and almost anything

 

As it is clear already, I will get to some points in Au Revoir Les Enfants, Insha’Allah, and then rant on this topic, and possibly others – as I write this, I have John Oliver in the background, with his latest episode of Last Week Tonight, where Orange Jesus rambles on something, what an idiot, OJ, not Oliver – so you have been warned

It may not be necessary to keep using these spoiler alerts, albeit some fellow did read, and then he did not like the shots (metaphorical) I take at this monstrous Orange Felon, and complained I did not alert him to that looming attack, I mean, I have seven clicks on my blog, on a regular day, so it is not popular, nobody cares

 

This is not lamenting, it is like in that Zen Master story, where he loses a horse, then the animal brings some other, wild ones, the son breaks his leg, but thus avoids the army, and all in all, the village laments, cheers, and the Zen Master shows equanimity, Ataraxia, eudaimonia and more and keeps saying we shall see

It happened to me https://realini.blogspot.com/2017/06/charlie-wilsons-war-written-by-aaron.html on a day when the pool had no water, at the downtown club, and I was so angry, for they had not even told me, but like with the Zen Master, I had to use the gym upstairs, instead of swimming, and that changed everything

 

I took part in the ten-kilometer run, a couple of weeks ago or so, and I was about to join another such coemption, two days back, only the spouse said no, she had me confined – as the geese keeper – with the macaws, over the weekend, but who knows, I hear a runner died, so maybe she saved me from a similar demise

There is a psychology classic, Games People Play https://realini.blogspot.com/2013/09/games-people-play-by-eric-berne.html by Eric Berne, which explains that one of the most frequently played games is If It Weren’s For You, people blame the spouse, claiming they would have done so much, reached the top, if only…

So let us put down some words about Au Revoir les Enfants, about time, right, now that there is nobody to read it, here is some useless fluff, well, ‘we shall see’, Zen feelings, the action takes place during World War II, and we have the themes of loyalty, betrayal, munificence, indeed, some of the superb traits, and their opposites

 

The children in the narrative learn in a place supervised by the clergy, actually, there is a bombardment, and the teacher takes them to the shelter, I think it was the cave, but he instructs them to take the books and all, as they descend, and they continue to study there, in even worse conditions, they have to suffer upstairs as well

It is very cold in the buildings, and the children complain, one teacher tells one child to put some wood on the fire, but the main problem is that they shelter three Jewish people within, and this is France under occupation, with the Nazis looking for victims to send to the death camps, extermination was rampant and millions will be killed

 

It is not just the Germans – one was is decent in fact, when the heroes, Julien Quentin and Jean Bonnet, are lost in the woods, this one brings them back, and when he hears about the ‘Boches’, which was a pejorative, actually outright insulting term, he lets it off – there were some loathsome collaborators, and they will kill indirectly

One is Joseph, who has a lame foot, and ergo we feel sorry for him, he has to work in the kitchen, gets into the black market and is cheated at times, an adolescent (he looked as if he was) who has to work quite hard, the others are better off, they can study, he looks at a life of some hardship, and yet, he is a vile figure

 

Another spoiler alert, I will say what happens – this Joseph alerts the Nazis, and they come looking for the three Jewish personages, one is Jean Bonnet, the name is in fact a cover, just as the boy of maybe 12 claims he is a Protestant, but he has a Hebrew ritual going on at night, when the others are asleep, and they will find them

Jean Bonnet is bright, one of the best students, in fact, he competes for the first place, now that he arrived at this new class, but just because he is of a different faith, he will be arrested by the collaborators, and we find at the end of the movie that he, along with the others, and millions of innocent people will be massacred

 

This is an extraordinary film, with plenty of moving, heart-breaking scenes – one is in the restaurant, where they have to use coupons, Julien’s mother asks about fish, but the waiter says they have not had that for a long time, so they must take the rabbit, one coupon for half something like that, but the enemy walks in

The collaborators are in the restaurant and they ask to see the papers, for they are looking for the Jewish people, and one client, a man of perhaps seventy, he is singled out – you, are not allowed with the others, and insults pour, and the waiter says, this gentleman has been coming for decades, and eventually, some Germans interfere, and tell the collaborators to get out, showing the complexity of the situation, think Schindler’s List https://realini.blogspot.com/2016/07/schindlers-ark-by-thomas-keneally.html

 

 Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

 

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

 

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”