Goodbye, Children
=================
Wolran Kim
March 2013
This movie depicts children’s friendships in a Catholic boarding school in France which was occupied by Germany during World War II. The boy’s wounded mind, having lost a friend in the vortex of the war committed by adults, leaves a deep aftertaste. Although there are no brutal scenes of the Holocaust or war, the tragedy of war through the children’s eyes gives a more special impression than any other film. The eyes of the innocent boys tell a very different point of view about fanatical Nazi racism and the inhuman atrocities of the war.
There is a personal sense of loss, a contemporary brutal experience of the Nazi extermination of the Jews, and self-mocking feelings about languor in front of cruelty. The ending that seems unfinished and unrelieved is full of suggestion with the school atmosphere, Jews, Germans, encounters, and parting through the 12-year-old kid, Julien.
Julien is the youngest boy in school but has a staunch, curious, and outgoing personality. In January 1944, all the boys were living in an unstable situation in the cold, with a lack of food, filled with bombing, black marketing, and the invasion of Germany. However, they are not anxious or restless at all even though the Germans wear shotguns in the streets and they must take shelter underground from bombings. After Jean Bonnet, an intelligent and sensitive boy, came to the school, children inflicted this mystery boy in all kinds of ways.
Julien closely observed Jean because he is stalwart, smart, and talented, although he was being harassed. After Julien found out that he is a Jew with the name, Kippelstein, Julien keeps friendship with Jean in subtle emotions and sympathy through school activities. But the two boys’ friendship could not continue any longer because the school worker, Joseph, told tales to the Germans of Jewish boys hiding in school. Joseph was placed on unemployment from being discovered black marketing including school students, and he revenged on his dismissal and anger. For that reason, the school closed and three Jewish students including Jean and Father Jean were captured.
There is no feeling of war in figures of children who laugh and clap, watching the movie Charlie Chaplin. They are not interested in whom or what is Jewish. When Julien reads Jean’s letter from his mother, Julien returns the letter to him without further teasing or fooling his mind. Julien also feels a strange pity when Jean confided in him, his secret about his father being taken to a concentration camp and his mother being missing. The scene where Father skipped Communion to Jean at Mass although Jean wanted to receive Communion to hide being Jewish, was very exciting and meaningful. The other scene when the Catholic priest preaches about helping the Jews and supporting workers to rouse parents’ antipathy, was also interesting.
Germans’ firm belief about Nazism also shows as submission and self discipline in this film. Popular praise for Adolf Hitler happens all the time in public places in Germany between 1933 and 1945. Nazi lines depicted their leader (Führer) as a powerful incarnation of Germany filled with devotion. Louis Solmitz, a Hamburg schoolteacher, said, “How many look up to him [Hitler] with touching faith as their helper, their savior, their deliverer from unbearable distress.” Nazis intimidated people by claiming that Germans’ lives and culture would be on the verge of extinction by the Jewish Bolshevism if the Allies win. They over-issued unrealistic words to ensure a successful war with miracle weapons, Germans’ willingness, and Hitler. Hitler established Nazism using a difficult internal and external situation, and then the terrible World War II resulted from the obedience of the people.
German soldiers came to the school to find hidden Jews and ruined the map because Germany wires were not marked favorably for them. They also told the French students about the lack of discipline, and were carried away by their strength of will. When the Germans came to check the restaurant, François, Julien’s brother cursed them. The atmosphere of the entire restaurant turned into a momentum pulling the two Germans, and they had to leave without doing anything to the elderly Jewish gentleman. Usually French people, except for a few German collaborations, bear no malice toward the Jewish, except for communists. François’s answer to Julien’s question was interesting that Germany tried to kill Jews because they are excellent.
In the last scene, the Gestapo pulls three Jewish boys and Father Jean in front of children. “Goodbye, children,” Father’s last parting words deafen us because it is looking death in the face. Julien is absent-mindedly watching Jean Kippelstein with tearful eyes but his tears never drop until the end of the scene, though his tears shed in our heart. Julien’s narration imparts that Jean was slaughtered in Auschwitz. History and war never transcend borders, race, and social status such as the piano variations that Julien and Jean played together when an air-raid siren sounded. History of war let Jean leave; however, he lives in Julien’s heart forever.
=================
Wolran Kim
March 2013
This movie depicts children’s friendships in a Catholic boarding school in France which was occupied by Germany during World War II. The boy’s wounded mind, having lost a friend in the vortex of the war committed by adults, leaves a deep aftertaste. Although there are no brutal scenes of the Holocaust or war, the tragedy of war through the children’s eyes gives a more special impression than any other film. The eyes of the innocent boys tell a very different point of view about fanatical Nazi racism and the inhuman atrocities of the war.
There is a personal sense of loss, a contemporary brutal experience of the Nazi extermination of the Jews, and self-mocking feelings about languor in front of cruelty. The ending that seems unfinished and unrelieved is full of suggestion with the school atmosphere, Jews, Germans, encounters, and parting through the 12-year-old kid, Julien.
Julien is the youngest boy in school but has a staunch, curious, and outgoing personality. In January 1944, all the boys were living in an unstable situation in the cold, with a lack of food, filled with bombing, black marketing, and the invasion of Germany. However, they are not anxious or restless at all even though the Germans wear shotguns in the streets and they must take shelter underground from bombings. After Jean Bonnet, an intelligent and sensitive boy, came to the school, children inflicted this mystery boy in all kinds of ways.
Julien closely observed Jean because he is stalwart, smart, and talented, although he was being harassed. After Julien found out that he is a Jew with the name, Kippelstein, Julien keeps friendship with Jean in subtle emotions and sympathy through school activities. But the two boys’ friendship could not continue any longer because the school worker, Joseph, told tales to the Germans of Jewish boys hiding in school. Joseph was placed on unemployment from being discovered black marketing including school students, and he revenged on his dismissal and anger. For that reason, the school closed and three Jewish students including Jean and Father Jean were captured.
There is no feeling of war in figures of children who laugh and clap, watching the movie Charlie Chaplin. They are not interested in whom or what is Jewish. When Julien reads Jean’s letter from his mother, Julien returns the letter to him without further teasing or fooling his mind. Julien also feels a strange pity when Jean confided in him, his secret about his father being taken to a concentration camp and his mother being missing. The scene where Father skipped Communion to Jean at Mass although Jean wanted to receive Communion to hide being Jewish, was very exciting and meaningful. The other scene when the Catholic priest preaches about helping the Jews and supporting workers to rouse parents’ antipathy, was also interesting.
Germans’ firm belief about Nazism also shows as submission and self discipline in this film. Popular praise for Adolf Hitler happens all the time in public places in Germany between 1933 and 1945. Nazi lines depicted their leader (Führer) as a powerful incarnation of Germany filled with devotion. Louis Solmitz, a Hamburg schoolteacher, said, “How many look up to him [Hitler] with touching faith as their helper, their savior, their deliverer from unbearable distress.” Nazis intimidated people by claiming that Germans’ lives and culture would be on the verge of extinction by the Jewish Bolshevism if the Allies win. They over-issued unrealistic words to ensure a successful war with miracle weapons, Germans’ willingness, and Hitler. Hitler established Nazism using a difficult internal and external situation, and then the terrible World War II resulted from the obedience of the people.
German soldiers came to the school to find hidden Jews and ruined the map because Germany wires were not marked favorably for them. They also told the French students about the lack of discipline, and were carried away by their strength of will. When the Germans came to check the restaurant, François, Julien’s brother cursed them. The atmosphere of the entire restaurant turned into a momentum pulling the two Germans, and they had to leave without doing anything to the elderly Jewish gentleman. Usually French people, except for a few German collaborations, bear no malice toward the Jewish, except for communists. François’s answer to Julien’s question was interesting that Germany tried to kill Jews because they are excellent.
In the last scene, the Gestapo pulls three Jewish boys and Father Jean in front of children. “Goodbye, children,” Father’s last parting words deafen us because it is looking death in the face. Julien is absent-mindedly watching Jean Kippelstein with tearful eyes but his tears never drop until the end of the scene, though his tears shed in our heart. Julien’s narration imparts that Jean was slaughtered in Auschwitz. History and war never transcend borders, race, and social status such as the piano variations that Julien and Jean played together when an air-raid siren sounded. History of war let Jean leave; however, he lives in Julien’s heart forever.
