Product Details

• Region: All Regions
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0009ZXA26
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #268,282 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Childhood innocence twisted by war, August 10, 2005

By 

Steven Sprague "Eklecticmovies.com" (Newport Beach, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jeux Interdits - Forbidden Games - English Subtitles (DVD)

The unfortunate English title for JEUX INTERDITS suggests something in the sexual exploitation genre, but nothing could be further from the truth. If PET CEMETARY had not already been used by Stephen King, that would certainly be a more accurate representation. No, this is not a horror film in the classic sense even though it deals with a concept that is horrific. Fleeing the Nazi occupation of Paris along a congested road, 5 year old Bridget (a painfully precious little girl who delivers the most honest and naturalistic performance from a child actor that I've ever seen) chases after her small dog across a bridge with her parents in hot pursuit as warplanes come in for the kill, machine guns blazing. Both adults and the little dog are killed instantly but Bridget is physically unscathed. Having no concept of death, the confused girl, holding her dead dog like a stuffed animal, is picked up by another Parisian couple among the stream of people flooding the road. Heartlessly observing that the dog is dead, the animal is torn from the girl's arms and tossed into the river below. Being a 5 year old, Bridget eludes her new transport and climbs down an embankment to the river pursuing her pet. Once retrieved, she watches an loose "War Horse" dragging a broken wagon down a path leading to a small farm, literally bringing the war into that pastoral existence hitherto untouched by violence. Soon the girl will follow and Michel, youngest son of the property owner will beg his father to adopt the orphan as his new playmate. Wanting to return to her parents, Michel tells Bridget that her parents would no longer be at the roadside, but put into a hole to protect them from the elements. "Like a dog?" she asks. And so begins her fascination with death, starting with the burial of her dog and culminating in a veritable pet cemetery so the dead can have company; indeed, war provides a guarantee that the dead will always have company! And so death becomes the forbidden game with the children mimicking the adult world, complete with the religious symbols and ritual. A masterpiece of a film that is made even more poignant by the deservedly famous music score by Nariciso Yepes.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Death games, October 10, 2005

By 

Bomojaz (South Central PA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jeux Interdits - Forbidden Games - English Subtitles (DVD)

A heartbreaking story set in France in 1940 about two children and their "game" of burying dead animals and stealing crosses for them. A very young girl, fleeing with her parents from Paris (she is obviously from the upper class), witnesses her parents' death in a bombing raid. She runs away with her dog (who is also now dead) and is found by a peasant boy whose family takes her in. Interspersed with these sad proceedings of the children is a family feud between two neighboring peasant families; the contrast between the ignorant and cruel peasants and the children's mock Christian burial rites both intensifies the satire (the movie contains a brutal anti-war message) and makes the children's activity and innocence more bearable for the audience. The two child actors (Brigitte Fossey and Georges Poujouly) are excellent and their wide-eyed innocence while enmeshed in their game of death, is emotionally devastating. A brilliant movie.

5.0 out of 5 stars An amazing anti-war film, August 13, 2005

By 

nathalie marcom "N" (Laguna Niguel, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jeux Interdits - Forbidden Games - English Subtitles (DVD)

One of my favourite films ever made, it has been rather difficult to ever find a non-bootleg copy of this film, with english subtitles. Surprisingly, anyone would think an Oscar winning, forgein film, would be available for purchase, and with english subtitles, but it wasn't.
This film is remarkable for an anti-war movie. All movies which are about war/and or take place during the war, are anti-war movies in some degrees, or in most. Most "American", and every other countrie's, view on war, and when presented into a motion picture, symbolizes somewhat the same outcome, that war is bad, and should not ever happen. Yes war is bad, but when it comes to french anti-war films, especially the ones from 1950's-1960's there is something different about them than say, "Saving Private Ryan", or "The Dirty Dozen". In this film and the other french anti-war films, there is a message behind each film. The message cannot be translated into English, or any official language of a country. The message is different for every person. What I loved and still love about Jeux Interdits is the emotion it brings me, from the beginning to the very end. There is something about children, besides the fact everyone loves children, they are innocent and in a sense of their innocence they bring it to the film. When it comes to children and the effects of war, one cannot possibly guess how the child reacts to the surroundings around him/her. A child is different from an adult, because a child reacts to things in a different way than an adult would. This includes death, and war. I am noting this because the main character of this film, her actions support this theory.
The film revolves around a small girl, who is living through WWII (film takes place during WWII), in a small rural, farm-like town in France. During the war, her parents are killed in front of her, and her pet dog is also killed. Orphaned by a young age, she is taken in by a middle-class farm family. the family has a around 9 year old boy named Michel, who in return takes Paulette (the young girl) under his wing, as an older brother. The two together, due to the effects of death and destruction, create a pet cemetary in secret. They kill small animals and steal crosses and crucifexs from the nearby Catholic Church. One might say that Paulettes witness to death might explain her obsession with death. I love this film because instead of focusing on the people fighting in the war, the movie focuses on the war's death and destruction effects on people living around the war, in this case a 5 year old girl, and a ten year old boy.