“Brave hearts”: the stolen illusions

After directing two comedies in which he showed his versatility in the genre, “El erizo” and “Las gazelles”, French director of Moroccan origin Mona Achache dares with a very different genre: war drama. To do this, he chooses to tell a story about childhood in the middle of World War II with ‘brave hearts’a story that moves between the academic of ‘A Bag of Marbles’ and the magic of ‘Beasts of the Wild South’.

“Brave Hearts” tells how six Jewish children manage to hide from Nazi soldiers in the castle of Chambord, where several works of the Louvre are hidden, like Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. The film focuses mostly on how they managed to stay hidden, with the help of a museum curator, Rose, who is Inspired by the authentic art historian and member of the Resistance Rose Valland, who is responsible for the recovery of nearly 45,000 works of art stolen by the Germans.

The film chooses to have a spirit closer to the family cinema, which distances it from the more dramatic historical proposals and It is related to similar titles like “The Year We Stopped Playing” or “The Book Thief”. Now, that doesn’t mean there are no moments of anguish or drama. It should be remembered that the story is told of six minors who would be exterminated if the Nazis found them. Despite the critical situation, the film reveals how childhood, even in moments of greatest anguish, is able to find the light to prevent horror from taking away the few moments of joy they can have because they are children.

A film that gives the brightness of childhood even in the most adverse moments

Hence the title of the film, which creates a series of youth magazines that the protagonists find and make their own. Although children are great, the one who shines as an “adult captain” is Camille Cottin, who plays Rose. The actress, more accustomed to acting in comedy, uses the tics of the genre to introduce them into the drama and thus create very natural scenes. Also mention for Swann Arlaud, who also brings his talent into the film.

“Brave Hearts” is an approach to war cinema and Achache’s family, which directs a screenplay written by Anne Berest, Jean Cottin, Christophe Offenstein and Valérie Zenatti. The result is extraordinary work on how the children of war did not want their childhood taken away from them, despite the fact that circumstances forced them to mature ahead of time. A pedagogical and didactic proposal that can fascinate an audience of all ages.

Note: 7

The best: The funny moments of the children allow us to grasp the main message of the film.

Worse: It’s too light to be a production set in the middle of World War II.