Au Revoir Les Enfants Movie Review

Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987)

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Written by: Louis Malle (scenario)
Directed by: Louis Malle 
Starring: Gaspard Manesse, Raphael Fejtö, Francine Racette
Rated: PG
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Plot
A French Catholic boarding school becomes a safe haven during World War II. Two boys start as enemies before becoming friends

Verdict
The title translates to Goodbye Children, and is based on events from Malle's childhood. It depicts the world war as the backdrop for kids bullying each other in school. Childhood feels grave. A social misstep could end your life... except it can't. It just feels that way. Kids bully others to hide their own insecurities and flaws. For a few students, this school is the only thing preventing them from being killed.
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Review
The first few scenes juxtapose how vulnerable Julian is with his mother before school, but a bully in school. It's part survival and part coping with those feelings. The children lash out because they can't adequately deal with how they feel. It's easier to hide your shortcomings than to admit to them. An admission would result in the other kids exploiting it to their own benefits and to mask their own failures.

The new kid, Bonnet, is bullied just because he's new. He's different, so the children capitalize on it to hide in plain sight. If everyone picks on one kid, they won't pick on you.
The kids are trying to be tough and prove to others and themselves that they aren't scared or homesick. They lash out. Cruelty occurs when you confine a large number of kids to a small area.

Julian picks on Bonnet at first, joining the other children. At times he feels sorry for him, but voicing that would divert attention to himself. They slowly bond, at first realizing they both like books and are good students.

Au Revoir Les Enfants - Measured and engaging.

It's a very measured story. Very little happens, but you're forming an emotional connection. Julian is the focus, a leader among the boys and fairly smart. Bonnet is smarter, though unpopular. Julian realizes something is different about Bonnet, but can't figure out what. So few movies rely so completely on the story. It unfolds at an almost glacial pace, but it's never boring. Each scene, though slow, is full of tension. Jewish children are hiding at the school to avoid German persecution and internment.
If you don't know the details of the synopsis you're trying to figure out Bonnet's secret. If you know the details, you experience the tension as Bonnet tries to keep the secret.

Julian and Bonnet's emotion erupt in fisticuffs, and at the end of the fight they're friends. Julian confides in Bonnet and in return is taught piano.

The Gestapo search the school, seizing the headmaster and the Jewish students. They were tipped off by the former cook who was fired for stealing food. He was bullied by the students, and this is his revenge. It's an unexpected, though completely logical twist.

This movie focuses on how children treat each other. The children don't share their food from home, even after the headmaster urges them. The headmaster also urges the parents to share what they have, but the parents don't. Those given much are tasked with much. The headmaster provides a safe haven and is ultimately interned at a German camp.
The harassment the assistant cook received  played a part in him bringing the Gestapo to the school.
Even the games the kids play involve the kids on stilts trying to knock each other down. Childhood and the world is cruel. Even doing the right thing may culminate in sadness and loss.