Then along comes an offbeat project that confutes such reasoning. I don't know where Roger Kahane's I'm Alive and I Love You has been hiding for three long years, but it hasn't been on my radar. This 1998 French film makes an appearance at the Miami Jewish Film Festival, and its arrival should be considered a must-see event for foreign film buffs and just plain movie fans.
Set in France during the World War II, I'm Alive tells the story of Julien Mensurat, a dough-faced nebbish who holds a routine job as a railroad worker. A bachelor, Julien lives with his critical, reserved mother, Yvonne, while dodging romantic commitment with his doting childhood pal and wannabe sweetheart, Lucie. Meanwhile a young Jewish woman, Sophia, is grabbed by Nazi guards and hustled aboard a freight train bound for the concentration camps. When Julien happens to be passing by in the rail yard, Sophia manages to slip him a hastily scribbled note. Julien, startled, takes the note without glimpsing her face. It's simple message, "I'm alive and I love you," is addressed to "The White Queen." Puzzled, Julien sets off to track down the addressee and soon finds the woman's elderly parents, who are overjoyed to hear a shred of news from her. Thinking he's their daughter's confidante, they treat him as a family friend and tell him all about their lives. Taken with their hospitality, Julien offers to help the parents flee the Nazis by giving them fake passports. But when he returns with the IDs, he discovers their home has been ransacked by German troops. All that Julien recovers are Sophia's diary and her three-year-old son, Thibault, who hid from the Germans when they came to arrest his grandparents..
Unable to secure a proper home for the boy, Julien resolves to find the elusive Sophia and return her son to her. What began as a chance encounter and a brief gesture of kindness turns into a deepening commitment as Julien comes to cherish the little boy. And when he reads Sophia's diary, he falls in love with her, sight unseen. He turns away from Lucie, increasingly determined to help Thibault reunite with Sophia. His furtive plans draw the attention of his co-workers, who mistakenly suspect he has joined the French Resistance fighting the Germans. Somehow Julien is turning into a leader, a fighter, and he's amazed at what's happening to him.
This reluctant-hero story line could be and has been the basis for many a movie, but rarely is this concept rendered with such delicacy and humanity. Writer-director Kahane and his screenplay collaborator, Roger Vrigny, have delivered a tale of great heart and dimension. Each character feels real; each relationship seems to have a history.
At first glance Jerome Deschamps seems an odd choice as a leading man. He's bulky and ordinary, and it's highly unlikely he's on anyone's heroic short list. His Julien shuffles through his daily routine half awake, hardly the image of a man of courage. But it is this very ordinariness that makes Julien an engaging personality, an everyday Joe who transcends his limitations to achieve a certain earthbound nobility. Deschamps is fortunate to have been paired with the delightful Dorian Lambert, a truly gifted child actor whose performance as Thibault is dazzling: fresh, alive, and completely believable, a refreshing change from the too-cute overcoached moppets with bowl haircuts that Hollywood insists are the proper depiction of childhood. Thibault seems to be a real little boy caught in an ever-changing ripple of emotions. One moment he's gleefully at play with Julien, his newfound benefactor, and another he's suddenly afraid, aching for his mother while Julien stands by, unable to comfort the boy. The supporting cast is equally strong, notably Agnes Sorac as the long-suffering Lucie, and Yvette Merlin as Julien's tut-tutting mother, Yvonne.
I'm Alive clearly bears a strong resemblance to several recent Euro films, notably Roberto Benigni's Life Is Beautiful, another war film about a man who tries to save a little boy. And it's entirely possible that this resemblance may well have scotched hopes to distribute the film in the wake of Benigni's success. But while Benigni opted for a wocka-wocka comedy style, a cloying sentimentality, and a watered-down depiction of wartime trauma, this film finds a more elegant balance between sweetness and sorrow, poetry and reality. There's also an exceptional balance between action and ideas. Unlike many European films, this picture is exceptionally well structured, offering a plot that's emotionally affecting and dramatically suspenseful. Moreover, I'm Alive and I Love You is willing to take on a number of serious issues. Julien is an ordinary man who can't turn his back on people who need help. He doesn't rely on authority or society to take action. He is impelled to act on his own. He can't explain it or justify it: Risking his life for no personal gain seems absurd to his friends and family. But he goes ahead anyway, suffers, and is transformed. The notion of individual action in the face of civic indifference or worse, amnesia, is an ongoing issue in European nations.
It is rare to come across a film that's thoughtful, endearing, dynamic, and graceful. But all these terms could be applied to this little gem. It simply is a disgrace that a movie this good has so far failed to find a wide audience in the United States. So do the daring thing: Make a decision apart from what the marketers tell you to do. I'm not telling you, I'm inviting you. I hope you enjoy this movie as much as I did.
