Almost Peaceful
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Movie Reviews of Almost Peaceful
Movie Review: Rekindling Happiness
Summary: 4 Stars
In post World War II Europe, Europeans strived to live after the devastations of war. Many had lost their jobs, homes, and family members, making life after the war quite difficult. The French film, Almost Peaceful, by Michel Deville, shows viewers how Parisian Jews struggled to rekindle happiness after facing such harrowing experiences during the war. The Jews of this film were all affected in some way or another by the war, whether being put in concentration camps, losing loved ones, or having to live a life under cover. This movie depicts the hardships faced by the Jewish protagonists in post-war Paris and how they managed to acquire a happier lifestyle in the end.
Most people wouldn't believe that managers of tailor shops in Paris might have lived a life in hiding, relying only on secret codes and messages as his knowledge of the outside world; secret codes and messages that acted as survival guides, as they we were needed to smuggle in food, clothes, and hope. Thus is the story of Albert, one of the Jewish protagonists of the film. Albert had managed to avoid the horrors of being put in concentration camps as he had hid away from the world during the war. A friend of his had helped to hide him, along with other fortunate Jews. Albert's mistrust of Anti-Semitics even after the war is shown in the movie as he makes jokes about his wartime experience. He struggles to support his business and his family, as well as keeping everyone in his shop alive, happy, and working. Albert is a hard working father who finds his happiness when spent with family, something he was deprived of during the war.
It can be said that all of the workers in Albert's tailor shop has a story of their own. All but one of the workers in the shop are Jewish and the least understood of the group is Charles. Charles is the lonely man sitting in the corner, minding his own business and keeping quiet. Charles refuses to accept that he had lost his wife and daughters during the war (as the viewers find out that they had unfortunately perished in a concentration camp). Charles' sadness seems invisible to everyone except Lea, Albert's wife. Lea understands Charles and had fallen in love with him in the film. Lea wants to spend her time with Charles, but Charles rejects her due to the memory of his wife and daughters. Throughout the movie, Charles changes from being a quiet nobody to a wise man. Charles learns to accept his life as it is and his strained friendship with Lea. Charles happiness arrives with his change of personality. In the end, he mentions that he wanted to start a new life abroad and that he would be happy to have someone like Lea to write to him.
The youngest worker in the tailor shop is the one with the most problems. Nineteen year old Joseph is made an apprentice to the shop and is provided with the money and housing to live his simple life. Although Joseph's time at work might seem cheery, his life had been troubled since his childhood. At the tender age of fourteen, Joseph had been separated from his family as they were arrested by the secret police and forced to go to concentration camps. Joseph's final memory of his family was when they were about to board the trains; Joseph's father bade him to escape and he did...his father never looked back at his son's freedom, something Joseph had always remembered. Ironically, five years later while applying for housing, Joseph ran into the same man who had helped arrest his family during the war. Joseph's soliloquy was touching, as he promised to have his thoughts be heard by writing about his experiences. Near the end of the film, Joseph encounters little children who had gone through the same hardships as he had, like David, the boy whose father had given him a stopwatch to remind himself of his lost family. Joseph decides to stay with the children and take care of them, as he is happy being with the children of the war. Joseph's happiness prevailed at the final scene, when all is calm and he starts to write.
In Albert's shop, there are certainly a whole bunch of interesting characters, each with their own personality and problem. Take Maurice, for example, a highly talented tailor with a lonely heart. Maurice's search for love had been scarred after falling in love with his former boss's wife when he was apprenticed at a previous tailor shop at the age of fourteen. Maurice had no idea of how to control his emotions, and sometimes that would get him into trouble. Maurice's search for love had had no luck during the wartime and at his current post in Albert's shop, his search came to an end. Due to his well-paid salary, his search for love, and his loneliness, Maurice would often wander into prostitute houses. The prostitute that Maurice had been sponsoring (Simone) had changed Maurice's train of sexual thought. Simone had taught Maurice not only to love women, but life itself. By talking to him and getting him to release his pain, Simone played a big role in Maurice's life. Their friendship in bed eventually led to love in real life, as they end up making wonderful memories. When two lonely people get together in French films, it seems that all will go well (in this case, it had)...
All throughout the ups and downs of this movie, the characters each had their moments of despair, the moment of their life when everything seemed to go wrong. The war had left its mark on every Jew in the film, both in good and bad ways. If not for their hardships and struggles, happiness wouldn't have come so sweet. The human aptitude for happiness is reached at the moment of surrender, when people have corrected their wrongs and have learned to be who they are. Real happiness in the reference of this film was shown at the sweet ending, where everyone is enjoying their summer day out in the countryside with the children. By rising from the shadows of their individual fears and struggles, each character had found their own form of happiness, something that was adequately portrayed in the film, Almost Peaceful.
Movie Review: touching story
Summary: 4 Stars
The Roman philosopher Seneca once said, "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." In the movie, Almost Peaceful by Michel Deville, many Jewish Parisians face the difficulties of restarting their lives after the Second World War. Without a choice, they must learn to live a new life and forget the old. The only thing holding them back is the memory of the life they once had and the painful memory of the war. Throughout the movie, we learn of the dark memories many of the characters faced and try with the best of their ability to look towards the future rather than the past. These characters vary from age, but their memories are as painful as on another's.
The most important scene in the movie revolves around Albert's workshop. It is where the characters talk and laugh about life and where they share their painful memories. Mister Albert is a tailor who does to the best of his ability to help those in need. As the movie begins, he hires a staff of mostly Jews, in order to help them get on their feet financially. As the movie professes, he buys a painting, in which a lonely man is wandering by himself through snow holding only his valued possession, his cello. To Mister Albert, it is a symbol of hardship and hope in which he wants to pass down to future generations so that they will never forget the pains of their ancestors. Having a part of his life taken away from him, he hopes that his children will accomplish more in their lives so that they wouldn't have the poor reputation of being tailors. As he works day by day, he slowly sees the sun after a long cold storm and falls in live with his wife again. Joseph is another character who must the face the prejudice of others. In the movie, Joseph starts out as a sewing machine operator for Mister Albert. Since he was never taken to a concentration camp, he enjoys listening to the stories of the passwords Mister Albert had used during the occupation of France. As Joseph applies for his French citizenship, an inspector that arrested his parents during the war refuses to give him one. Not knowing what to say, Joseph leaves the room, but returns shortly to defy the inspector. He retells the story of how the inspector was going to take his family to the concentration camp, but was able to escape bravely without looking back. He then tells the inspector that he is free and will one day write about his courage and the hardships of the war. The character who seems to be affected by the war the most, was Charles. In the beginning of the movie, Charles is the employee who sits quietly at his desk and avoids conversation with the others. We later find out that Charles had lost his children and wife in the concentration camps and waits for them each day at the window of his apartment. When Lea approaches him and confesses her love for him, he tells her that he has no feelings for her and wants to remain loyal to his wife. As the movie closes to and end, we see a change in Charles. He becomes more open and enjoys the company of Albert's children. In the end, he tells Lea that he is planning to move to Canada or Australia in order to start a new life and forget the old. The youngest of the characters were the two orphan boys. The first time we see one of the boys, George, is when the orphan refuses to eat strawberry jam. We later find out that his parents once told him that a jar of strawberry jam is precious and that it should be saved for a time in need. When officers rushed into his house to take his parents away, he hid in a closet. After everyone was gone, he stayed in the closet for along time and when he became hungry, he found and ate the jar of jam he found next to him. The other orphan, Daniel, we meet during the end of the movie. During a picnic, he is sitting alone by himself playing around with a pocket watch. We then find out that the pocket watch had been given to him by his father just before he was taken to a concentration camp. Since then, he rewinds the watch each day without letting it stop. It is the only item that comforts him and helps him remember his parents. In the end, through all the sorrow and pain the characters faced, they finally find joy. For Mister Albert, he found joy in his family whom he loved dearly. Joseph found the courage to write about freedom, Charles found hope to open a new chapter in his life and the orphans found the joy in their sorrowful memories in the hope of being closer to their lost parents. This movie has proven once again, that after a terrible storm, there is always sunshine.
Movie Review: Inside the Characters of Almost Peaceful; by Mawra Malik
Summary: 4 Stars
In the film, Almost Peaceful by Michel Deville, we saw how different Jewish Parisians attempted to restart their lives and seek happiness after World War II. These people tried to move on in their lives, while still remembering their experiences from the Holocaust.
Albert, who is a character in the movie, was the tailing shop owner. When he was in a concentration camp, he mentioned that he would make a plan of how he would work out his tailoring. After the Holocaust, not only did he re-open his shop, but he also kept the people over there working effortlessly. Albert bought a painting from Madame Sarah only because he wanted to show his future generations what it was like back in the Holocaust. Albert and his wife Lea sent their two children to summer camps so they could lead a normal life as well.
A second example from the movie is the character Leon. He has a wife, Jacqueline, and she is pregnant with their second child. This shows that they are also moving on in their lives. Leon jokes around all the time with everyone at the tailor shop and is a great actor as well. Leon had lost many of his family members in the Holocaust and now he has the desire to have a big family. For example, when Jacqueline gives birth to their second child, Leon gets excited about his family photo (with future generations).
The third character that is trying to rekindle his capacity for happiness is Maurice. He is a very lonely man who seeks a prostitute, named Simone, to fill his sexual desires. Maurice goes to only her each time and this shows that he is looking for comfort and the warmth to get rid of his loneliness. As the movie goes on, Maurice becomes more open to Simone. For example, he took her to a coffee shop and he told her about his past life. Gradually, Maurice's relationship with Simone gets stronger and he finally expresses his feelings and all the sadness in his heart.
A last example would be the character Joseph. When he was small, his parents got arrested and he ran away. His parents didn't want to catch any attention so they didn't look back at him. Joseph went to an interview and he met the man who arrested his parents. However, Joseph wasn't scared; in fact he confronted the man. Even though Joseph felt sad about being separated from his parents, he felt happy deep inside because his parents let him free. Joseph just ran and didn't look back. Joseph tells the man that he will become a writer and write about his experience. This shows that he is ambitious to follow his dreams and brave enough to write his experience, even if it means recalling the painful truth.
The four characters Joseph, Leon, Albert, and Maurice, from the movie Almost Peaceful, try to restart their lives in different ways. Their objective wasn't to forget what happened to them during the Holocaust; they wanted to keep that in mind so that they could gather the courage to move on. After all, one's strength is more visible after they have tolerated more.
by Mawra Malik
Movie Review: An Original Look at Life in Paris After World War II
Summary: 4 Stars
ALMOST PEACEFUL is a film I stumbled upon and one I soon discovered a film with a simplicity that is moving. It tells the story of a small group of people working in a tailor shop in Paris after World War II. Most are Jewish and each had a different experience during the war from being a member of the resistance to suffering in the concentration camps. We meet a wide array of characters ranging form early adulthood to close to late in life: two younger men who escaped when a French police officer attempted to turn him over to the Nazis, and another who longs for love but seems afraid to experience it so he spends time with a call girl who falls in love with him. We feel for the man who waits for his family to return knowing it will never happen. A woman who steels soap but has a true passion for creating love matches adds a bit of humor. All the characters are connected through husband and wife who stay together and seem to be a happy couple but secretly love someone else.
The title of the film is perfect. There is a sense that the war is over and life will return to some kind of normalcy, perhaps even be better. Yet there is also an uneasiness. While there is a slight toleration of Jews in France in 1946, everyone knows it will not last. The only guarantee of any happiness will be in the community the group forms, and somehow we know it will happen.
The film is enjoyable because of its delightful characters, and in some ways it is a film that could be called more a character sketch than a story. It gives the viewer a glimpse of life that in 1946 is all but forgotten and reminds us of both the scars that were a part of the aftermath of World War II and also the faint hope that was real as well.
Movie Review: Communal Nurturing and Healing Among Friends of Scars from the War
Summary: 4 Stars
'Un monde presque paisible' (Almost Peaceful) is a touching little film that keeps its story so quietly gentle that the effect is genuinely memorable. Director and screenwriter Michel Deville based this engrossing movie on a novel by Robert Bober: it is a unique vision and sharing of how Jews recovered from WW II.
Set in 1946 in Paris, the owner of a tailoring business seeks out Jews who have either returned from the camps or have been in hiding, or were part of the Resistance, who by luck escaped the fate of so many others, or were outcast otherwise during the horrors of WW II and offers them employment and emotional support. These are healthy people physically: emotionally the damage is deep and requires tender nurturing to start the road to health. The story unfolds slowly and allows us to witness the means by which each of these victims help each other heal and regain self confidence and learn to live in a world without the fear of extermination. The movement of the story is one of emerging trust and the director and actors each bring to the concept a fine sense of history and of the manner in which fellowman can coexist with a little help from their friends.
The cast is uniformly excellent and the atmospheric cinematography by Andre Diot is stunningly beautiful and reminiscent of the post war France period. The musical score is solely dependent on string quartets and matches the intimacy of the message of the film. In French with English subtitles. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, July 06
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