Review of Monsieur Batignole

In 1942, in an occupied Paris, the apolitical grocer Edmond Batignole (Gérard Jugnot) lives with his wife and daughter in a small apartment in the building of his grocery. When his future son-in-law and collaborator of the German Pierre-Jean Lamour (Jean-Paul Rouve) calls the Nazis to arrest the Jewish Bernstein family, they move to the confiscated apartment. Some days later, the young Simon Bernstein (Jules Sitruk) escapes from the Germans and comes to his former home. When Batignole finds him, he feels sorry for the boy and lodges him, hiding Simon from Pierre-Jean and also from his wife. Later, two cousins of Simon meet him in the cellar of the grocery. When Pierre-Jean finds the children, Batignole decides to travel with the children to Switzerland.

What a delightful movie this "Monsieur Batignole" is! The story is realistic, balancing dramatic situations with some funny scenes, like, for example, when Batignole is called in the train station to help a German soldier with a twisted knee. Another interesting and quite original aspect is the unusual number of French collaborators, since it is very difficult to see a movie that recognizes that they did exist in times of war. Further, Monsieur Batignole is not the usual hero, but a man driven by the reality to have a heroic action instead. The boy Jules Sitruk steals the movie with his attitudes, and Gérard Jugnot and Jean-Paul Rouve are fantastic. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Herói Por Acaso" ("Hero by Chance")