Synopsis
The Two of Us (Le Vieil Homme et l'Enfant, 1967) is Claude Berri's tender wartime comedy-drama, available to watch online on iFILM. With the Germans occupying France, a Jewish boy of eight or nine keeps drawing dangerous attention, so his parents send him out of harm's way.
He lands in the countryside with an elderly farming couple. The catch: the old man is a die-hard anti-Semite who worships Marshal Pétain — and has no idea who's just moved into his spare room. The boy passes himself off as Catholic and keeps quiet. From there an odd, disarming bond grows between the grumbling grandfather and the sly little guest, who fishes with him, listens to his rants about "the nation's enemies," and watches the crusty old man soften day by day.
Berri drew on his own childhood hiding under a false name, which gives the film its lived-in warmth. Michel Simon is wonderful as the old man — gruff, funny and moving all at once. It quietly mocks prejudice by showing how fast it crumbles in the face of plain human affection. Stream The Two of Us (1967) online on iFILM.
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