I have always been in love with Auguste Le Breton's novels. Especially crime mobsters ones, I must admit. Such as "Rififi chez les Hommes" - his most famous and that was adapted as a movie by Jules Dassin - "Le Rouge est mis", "Razzia sur la Schnouf"; not forget "Le Clan des Sicilians". he wrote more than seventy novels. Gangsters, outlaws, adventurers, people in war with society that broke them down. Social novels, too. Not for the squeamish.
"Les Hauts Murs" was the first book he wrote, but not published. He wrote it with his guts, his rage, his ferocity. Keep in mind that Le Breton was an authentic orphan just after WW1. He was raised by foster parents,escaped and caught before sent in approved school, the cruelest ones, the most terrible. Animal Factories. No more no less. He learned what real life was, brutality, fierce but friendship too.
The movie is faithful to the novel. Heart gripping, tough, awfully realistic about the real atmosphere of the tremendous orphanages of the 30's.
I wept during this splendid film. An unforgettable one.
"Les Hauts Murs" was the first book he wrote, but not published. He wrote it with his guts, his rage, his ferocity. Keep in mind that Le Breton was an authentic orphan just after WW1. He was raised by foster parents,escaped and caught before sent in approved school, the cruelest ones, the most terrible. Animal Factories. No more no less. He learned what real life was, brutality, fierce but friendship too.
The movie is faithful to the novel. Heart gripping, tough, awfully realistic about the real atmosphere of the tremendous orphanages of the 30's.
I wept during this splendid film. An unforgettable one.