Purely Joyful Movie!

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Movies about the Second World War are some of the favorite subjects of writers and directors, movies about the Holocaust, some very beautiful, such as "The Pianist" or "Schindler's List" which are two monuments of cinema, but these films deal with the Holocaust in Poland or in the German camps but movies on the politics of the government of Petain and the Holocaust in France, and thus represented by the Vel d'Hiv, there are very few of them and it can be said that this one is successful, denouncing a face very often hidden but especially very black History (with a large H) of France, showing Jews living on French territory expelled and deported, believing they are directed to a Jewish territory while they are directed only to extermination camps. The film is historically interesting and poignant, a success that deserves 7/10. A French film about a French shame.

Man, the Holocaust was depressing. And this movie faithfully shows real life events of Jews in France in about the most depressing way possible.The main focus is one family, and their various neighbors, who escaped Poland and came to Paris to avoid the Germans. Through the course of a pretty much hopeless two hours you follow them and a French Protestant Nurse, as they go through the various horrible things that the Germans and with compliance from the French, did to them.A lot of the other reviews are calling it a French Schindler's List. It isn't. Schindler's List is beautifully directed and acted, this is not. The direction always feels like you're watching a documentary and aren't actually feeling a lot of the things that the characters are supposed to be feeling. Then it cuts to something else completely, like backroom dealings, and you almost feel like some voice over guy says, "Meanwhile in a dark dusty room in Paris." I think the director's main goal was to try to convince you that the French government was no better than the Germans and it didn't matter if that story fit his film or not.My biggest issue with movie was actually the plot. At this point, pretty much everyone knows that the Holocaust was absolutely terrible. We see small moments of ordinary people being heroic and either hiding Jews or doing little things to help them. But then they're gone and there's no hope. Most of the other Holocaust movies focuses on a denouement of something good happening. Schindler had a list. Life is Beautiful *spoiler* ended the war. Not in this film. In this film, you knew that basically everyone was going to die since it gave the time frame of when it started. Sure a couple individuals survived. But you knew that basically all of the things that were done, would lead to the death of hundreds of characters. It just doesn't make the film that much fun to watch. It's tough to get attached to someone you know is going to die for no good reason.If you want to see a movie about Jews in occupied France, sure. If you want to be depressed for a couple hours, with almost nothing breaking it up or giving hope, then La Rafle is for you. If you want to watch a movie about the Holocaust or the plight of Jews in that time period, there are some better films that actually give you some amount of hope about the whole situation. This one just didn't focus on that, instead going through the step by step ways that people were lead to their deaths.

Bought this film having read good reviews and have always been an admirer of Jean Reno in the films I have seen him in. I also don't mind watching a film with subtitles.I wasn't expecting the film to be better than what I thought and was pleasantly surprised. Sometimes when you know a film is supposed to be emotional you subconsciously prepare yourself and don't quite get the emotion but this film did it for me.The story of thousands of Jews and their families taken from their homes in Paris and placed in war camps where many are later killed is a powerful one. Never before has this particular episode in French history during the war been told. We see the effect through various Jews eyes of being forced from your home because you happen to be Jewish and how families and friends are torn apart. Those that try to escape who succeed and those who don't, those that cant even face their fate and those that bravely believe that one day again they will be free. It is through the children that much of this story centers, the innocent ones which also carries much of the emotion, the very young children too young to understand what is happening and going to happen to them and the slightly older children that show bravery beyond their years. Also through the eyes of a brave nurse(Melanie Laurent) and a dedicated Doctor (Jean Reno) we see a triumph of the human spirit to never give up and to try and stay united. The emotion in the film never lets up from start to finish and their is a constant mixture of cruelty and horror, impending dread yet tinged with hope and belief. Special praise must go to (Melanie Laurent) who plays the part of a nurse, you can really feel the connection she has with the children as if she is mother to them all. (Jean Reno) is not in the film as much as I expected but his presence is still felt and he can convey great emotion with just his face alone. The child actors are all good and (Udo Schenk)who plays Adolf Hitler is also very good. The music in the film is perfect for the story and the film is just the right length to keep you gripped.A very good retelling of a surprisingly neglected story highly recommended.

Mélanie Laurent is convincing. At the time of this review the rating averaged 6.9, so it has crept up from what it was earlier, as I can tell by reading other user reviews; I think it has a fair result considering other movies on the subject. Speaking of the subject, the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup of 1942, it is an historical fact (easy to check on Wikipedia). This movie highlights the children's fate more than the rest and the actors in those roles did a pretty good job. Because we see children being torn from their parents and being brought to be killed as they were, it is a difficult movie to watch, how can it not. Some reviewers complain about the numerous movies on the subject of the holocaust; there have been genocides before WWII and more even since, so as long as there are, there must be movies on the subject. Books and encyclopedias can relate facts etc., but motion pictures about genocides do a far better job at conveying the horror and the evil it is. Two movies were produced and released in 2010 on the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup of 1942, the other being 'Sarah's Key'; I hope as many people as possible see at least one of them, because I for one understand how movies help shape the thinking of a generation.