Strange Gardens

I saw this film just a couple of days ago on the Hamburg Film Festival together with a crowd of, say, only 50 other people with good taste. Okay, French with English subtitles is not the usual stuff for most Germans which are used to dubbed films....

This film is about a boy, about this boy's father, this boy's father's friends and the story of their lives, set during WW II and the late 50s.

What I had expected was a drama or even a tragedy, very heavy and not easy to digest. What I got was a most wonderful film with light moments, sad ones, funny ones, heavy ones, and above all terrific actors. Namely Jacques Villeret and André Dussollier are amazing, there is great chemistry between them as best mates during difficult times.

I haven't read the book by Michel Quint which seems to be a best seller in France - that's what the director Jean Becker said, he was present at the screening I saw - but I leafed through it and I believe they changed a few characters' names...

Anyway, if you have the chance to see this rare jewel, do so! Even if stories from WW II are not your cup of tea, this one you shouldn't miss.

A little bit of humorous warmth between life and death in war is huge energy, and relaying to the world is insignificantly great, and people who understand will naturally understand.